The sound of silence
by Knevix Roze
Summary: The story takes place after Omega's missile raid on Neo Arcadia in MMZ3. An alternate approach to the culminating events of MMZ3 initially in the perspective of the wind guardian Harpuia. Planning to update soon.
1. Silence of the Resistance

Hey everyone ^_^ I just decided to post a fanfic on Harpuia's perspective during the time after the missile raid on Neo Arcadia. I just thought that this would be a good start for something later on.

Megaman Zero and all associated characters owned by Capcom

_Sorry it took a bit of a while to edit the first one. As requested I've separated some of the dialogue from the main paragraphs to make it look less distracting._

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"This...is THIS what you call justice!?!?" The emerald-armoured reploid mouthed to the top of his lungs. "Weil!!!"

Letting his overwhelming sense of duty and rage take over he thrust his arms upward, sending forth multiple bolts of lightning at his foe. Unfortunately his strength wasn't enough to even scratch his angered combatant, who simply shrugged off his efforts without a second thought. Multiple beams of light suddenly struck him, abruptly sending him down to the ground where his pride had now resided. His body had begun to fail him. Soon, even the slightest sensation of pain itself momentarily vanished with his consciousness, only to surface moments later. Everything lay in ruins. An entire colony of innocent humans and reploids had paid a price so undeserved. His initial distrust upon that mysterious human had finally manifested itself in such a form that he regretted not being able to do anything. Regret was the last thought that coursed through his mind as his vision slowly faded. Had he betrayed all that he had sworn to protect? Would his actions be justified had he decided to disobey his master's orders and prevent such a catastrophe from taking place? Whatever the answer, it was too late. A blur of red and the speed of silence was all that remained before he had lost everything.

"Master X, how can you possibly allow this man to keep acting?"

Opening his eyes, the former guardian saw that he had been at the last place he needed to be. Stripped of his pride and his position, the guardian instinctively unsheathed his blades and prepared to strike down the fools that brought him to the dreaded resistance base. Harpuia could only wonder how the resistance could possibly help such a failure as he. The doors began to open. An aged fellow wearing a grey visor proceeded to walk in, as if no visible threat was in sight.

"How are you feeling?" , the old reploid asked.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" , Harpuia's rage grew, "In my loss I've allowed a madman to do as he pleases! To be responsible for failing to save the lives of countless innocents who have had nothing to do with this conflict!"

"I understand how you're feeling, but you mustn't get too hasty. Your repairs are clearly still underway and in your condition, you can barely get up without trembling in and out of balance."

This was clearly visible as Harpuia noticed that his grip on his blades had slowly loosened not by his will but due to his grave injuries. He knew that even on the brink of destruction he would stand up and fight against those who oppressed humanity. The dream that he shared with his master would not fade, and was now burning with intense passion even in his condition.

"Weil, somebody—we have to stop him at all costs..." At that moment he deactivated his blades, concealing his frustration even at such a time.

"Perhaps it's best that you rest and relax for a while. Everyone here is doing all they can to stop that monstrosity." Cerveau made sure not to make the slightest mention of Zero around the wearied guardian in order to prevent any unnecessary conflict.

"Repairs...65% complete"

Waking once more to the sounds of silence, Harpuia decided to look around the empty room. Although his conscience had avidly been telling him to break out of his state of confinement he knew that in his present state he had become an outcast, an abomination cast out against the side he had fought most passionately in. The least he could do was show some sort of gratitude for the individuals that had taken him in rather than just leaving him in the ruins of his failure.

Thoughts raced around and around the guardian's mind. "I suppose this is payback for me helping Zero months ago in the desert." Widening his eyes the green reploid smashed his right arm against the closest surface in discontentment. This was the dwelling place of his most hated nemesis. The menace that destroyed countless waves of his troops and destroyed his closest of allies. The very same reploid that took his brother's life as well as his master's before his resurrection.

He would inevitably meet with him, but what would he do then? It was quite clear that his powerlessness and carelessness had cost him the lives of countless innocents in the recent missile raid. Days before that, his siblings had lost to the monster that was banished into space centuries ago, despite their greatest efforts to give the monster any reason to fight seriously. Zero may have been the only remaining hope for humanity but the guardian repeatedly refused to accept that.

"Transfer complete"

A small sound of cheers could be heard across the room—something that the guardian could never comprehend until that point. His past victories now seemed worthless. Despite his many successes, he would never be able to get that level of praise from the waves of his mindless troops, the unwavering prides and annoyances of his siblings or even from his admired master X.

It now dawned upon him that every single one of his victories in the past meant very little to others, as they have grown accustomed to the level of safety in each of their lives. At one point, Harpuia found this to be one of his sources of pride, that no matter what he would always be there to maintain that level of security for those that he protected. He realized though that humans and even reploids quickly took things such as safety for granted and soon lost a reason for caring, thinking that safety and security had become such a steady routine that it could never be shaken.

Even in the days where he still resided in Neo Arcadia he could recall the cheerful voices of the people protected under his wing—the happy carefree attitudes of individuals who would never know the meaning of conflict that way he does. At times he was jealous of these individuals. In his former position he was always too caught up in his duties that it was difficult to relax every once in a while. He so longed to feel the need for rest, to not have to worry about the safety and security of Neo Arcadia—being stripped of his position and being so scarred that he was unable to function was not the way he intended this wish to be granted. Closing his eyes once more his consciousness drifted to a time where the resistance did not exist, where everything had gone so smoothly that it almost seemed routine.


	2. On the Brink of Sanity

"Mission complete"

Voices and sighs of relief were audibly clear even from across the walls of the nurse's room. Even though most of the resistance soldiers were confident in Zero's abilities, there were some who were always left unsure of whether or not he would return to them after his series of dangerous missions. Zero's successes were commonplace in the base, giving the slightest tinge of hope despite dark perilous times.

"Your condition seems to have stabilized, give it a few more hours of rest and your recovery systems should start to do its work", a nurse reploid noted, with a ray of hope tinted in her voice.

Harpuia couldn't help but nod in resentment as he was briefed of his condition. Although he was most discontent with the fact that his greatest enemies ironically saved his life he couldn't help but appreciate that soon he would be well enough to once more put an end to Weil's schemes. There miniscule detail of him not knowing _exactly_ how his own plan was carried out of course, but he was sure that he would definitely be the one to crush Weil's inhuman heart between his fingers. Sleep was an absolute necessity for his full or at least decent recovery but it was getting rather tiresome waking up, thinking that all had been some kind of ridiculously cruel nightmare and hoping that he would find himself at his usual post commanding his troops.

"It can't be helped", he muttered as he winced in pain. The deep gashes left to him by Omega were nothing compared to the pain that he suffered in worrying about the humans' well being. The longer he stayed immobile, the greater the intensity his guilt was for not being there to put a stop to a great tyrant's schemes.

Several hours passed and he found himself being able to fully move his fingers again without much difficulty. Mobility in general wasn't much, but he was slightly encouraged by the fact that control over his own body had begun to come back. Clenching his fists he got up out of his bed ready to charge at the madness of Weil and possibly sway the strange behaviour of his master. The sudden return of his "Master X" was at the very least surprising, and while his distrust of Weil grew, the loyalty he held towards his beloved master never faded. If he was unable to face Weil directly he would at least try to convince his master to stop the madman's actions. On his way out of the room he saw two figures, one the old visor-wearing reploid that had greeted him earlier, and the other, a formidable opponent that he had much history with. Anger overcame him as he came face to face with an infamous foe that had caused him inconvenience after inconvenience since he came.

"Did you come back to finish the job? Surely you wish to finish me off in my weakened state?"

Ignoring the injured guardian's comment, the familiar blonde-haired reploid greeted, "Are you feeling any better?"

"What do you think? I've been stuck here for hours hopelessly stationary while a tyrant serves to threaten not only your futile resistance but even those who do not even deserve to be in this conflict!"

"Believe us Harpuia, we're doing what we can. I guarantee you that Weil WILL be stopped and that no one except our enemies will be harmed", the crimson reploid reassured.

The senile reploid who had been walking alongside him added, "I know you're well enough to stand and that your fighting capabilities are considerable", he paused, "any help that we can get from you would be gladly appreciated".

"Me? Fighting alongside you resistance scum? The very thought of it makes me sick", the guardian sneered.

Without a second thought he teleported back to one of Neo Arcadia's most undisclosed locations. Wishing to get as much help as he can he ventured to seek out a most trusted ally—Aztec Falcon. Speed had definitely been an advantage for the emerald guardian. Thanks to his supersonic speeds, none of the various sensors and traps could detect him. He quickly found himself exhausted due to his incomplete recovery but he was glad that he could make it to Aztec Falcon's station. His trusted and loyal ally stood by near a peculiarly open doorway, as if he had been waiting, expecting his superior to come.

"Aztec Falcon I-" Before he could finish his words he quickly found himself dodging an arrow made out of energy.

"Under master X's orders you are to be arrested and terminated on sight." The falcon declared, without even a slight tint of emotion behind his voice. It was as if he was being manipulated.

Greatly shocked, an appalled Harpuia drew out his blades. Of course he knew that his decision to attack Omega and disobeying his orders meant treason against his master X, however he never expected his master to declare him as worthy of death without even so much as an explanation. It was strange to him that his master X, who had fought for centuries to protect the humans, would even _allow_ a missile to be fired at a human colony, simply to find the mother elf. _Weil definitely has to be behind all this. I definitely have to find Master X and find a way to snap him out of whatever garbage Weil has somehow brainwashed into him._ It now dawned upon the guardian that before being dismissed by his master days ago, when he still could call himself a Neo Arcadian, that his master had whispered something to Weil about commanding at a certain location. Not wanting to waste any more time, the guardian quickly but reluctantly charged in, dodging every projectile fired at him. Suppressing his hesitation he struck his blades in between his trusted ally's chest, instantly causing the falcon's core to overheat and go critical. A single tear was shed as Harpuia walked away then flew, knowing that what he had done had to be done—or at least he fully convinced himself that it was so.

Not too surprisingly, a horde of pantheons all equipped with the latest weaponry took aim of him, their single red eyes shining soullessly. Alarms were triggered by the endless amounts of troops and soon the entire station was surrounded by many more forms of Neo Arcadian forces. Harpuia screamed inside in frustration, thinking, "This is definitely not going to be easy".

Blades merged with metal bodies only to find themselves dislodged moments later. A traitor he had been branded and a traitor he had proved himself to be. Not only had he disobeyed his master, but he had killed one of his own, and was now destroying countless numbers of his forces. At this point, he saw himself as being no different than the crimson blonde-haired reploid.

"What is this madness?! Can't you see that I'm fighting to protect the same humans that YOU ALL are trying to protect?! Can't you see past that wretched Weil's deception?! Why won't any of you see!?!?!" Lost in his frustration he sped past the troops. He didn't care of his present condition, he didn't care that he was now slaughtering his own troops, and he certainly didn't care that there seemed to be no hope of him even surviving. All that he had left to hold on to was his last brink of sanity—the hope that even if he were to die in vain a traitor, that his master would realize the error of his ways and see Weil for what he really was. Before long, a fury of heavy winds and lightning was all that could be seen for several miles. This storm refused to cease for hours, and then died down.

The last remnant of the great conflict rolled away—the decapitated head of a slain pantheon. More exhausted than he had ever been in his entire life, Harpuia found it surprising that he had survived through it all. He was horribly injured once more since not only had he fought with his still unhealed injuries from Omega, but he also had faced against hundreds of Neo Arcadian troops.

"Honestly, I don't know how Zero does it."

With the last ounce of his strength he managed to fly to his master's secret location, slaying any more unwanted forces along the way. After all this fighting, it seemed as if he had eliminated a good quarter of Neo Arcadia's army. Perhaps he had done more damage than that but he cared little at this point. Finally making it to his master's post he saw a most horrifying sight. The infamous champion of the resistance had dealt heavy damage to his master who was now lying on one knee.

The fallen reploid desperately called for help. Had Harpuia felt any better he would have charged in, risking his own life to save his master's.

"So this was what they were planning all along huh? They never cared about Weil did they?! They just saw that Neo Arcadia's ruler had returned and they simply came by to do what they did two years ago!"

Harpuia prepared to use the last of his energy to charge in at Zero at full speed, destroying him before his master could be hurt. However, the damage had been too great. Too hurt to even cause his own demise Harpuia collapsed several meters before reaching his goal. Not only was this the case but he also found that no one had even noticed his presence. Only a few moments before he heard the sounds of his master's painful screams there was a muffled mix of two voices conversing. One had obviously been Zero's but the other? It sounded exactly like his master's but something was clearly different from its sound. He was certain that he had witnessed the hero Mega Man X dying once more to the infamous Zero but it was clear that he had screamed to his death. Yet that _other_ voice that he heard could not possibly have come from his master. Managing to open his eyes to see what was going on he saw another spectre-like being that resembled his clearly fallen master standing next to Zero, seeming to tell him something. Right next to it was what remained of his master—a small portion of his head muttering "Wh-Why..." before finally losing the glow in its single remaining eye.

"M-Master X?!?!"

Wonders and a tremendous amount of confusion overcame the guardian's already critical state of mind and body. It felt as if he had finally gone insane.


	3. Under the moonlight

It had only been mere moments after a battle of legendary proportions. The crimson reploid had called upon his allies to retrieve him as always while the other supernatural figure disappeared into nothing. Struggling to move his dust filled head Harpuia attempted to make at least a little bit of sense with what just happened. As if his master's second fall wasn't enough, he now questioned the very nature of his sanity. Over the years of constant fighting, the hardened guardian had learned to believe only what he saw more than anything else. However, with the recent event he no longer could decipher what everything had been trying to tell him.

"Have I gone mad?", he pondered.

There were two visions of his master, one was the hero who ruled Neo Arcadia and saved humanity enough times to be hailed the world's champion, the other was this ghastly figure who strongly resembled his master. Perhaps if the phantom appeared after X(Copy)'s death Harpuia would have started believing in such illogical things as spirits however this was not the case. Devoid of an actual physical manifestation, the ghost frequently phased in and out of existence, revealing a form that manifested such a magnificent display of power yet looked as if it carried the wisdom of ages. Such a creature would probably be heralded as an unknown champion of legend; ironically this floating seraph had been clearly helping another legendary demon. Like an onlooker helplessly trapped behind the stage, the guardian could not help but just watch as the tragic play unfolded. "Fate had its way with legends", another fallen guardian once said, "but once our time comes, what then?".

The guardian never once thought of himself as anything worth being X's equal. Pride may have been a source for many of his victories in the past, but he knew that "legendary" would not be a title befitting him no matter what the scale of the victory.

Harpuia lamented as he turned over looking at the peaceful glow of the moonlight, trying to ignore the overwhelming smell of iron and ash, the molten and shattered remains of his master, and the thick smell of the oil that had already started to seep through his armor.

"Strange that no matter what mess we start or get ourselves into, the world still manages to continue as if nothing happened."

Was he dying? Far from it. If pride was somehow connected to one's life, Harpuia would have died the minute he first lost to the accursed hero of the Resistance. There was no restoring lost pride. If pride no longer drove him forward, then what did?

"Whoever made us reploids think like humans must not have taken into account the amount of suffering we were subjected to. A simple purpose programmed into us would make much more sense than having us figure it out for ourselves."

Realizing what he had just said out loud, the guardian came to a realization that though his life's leading motivation had faded, one had always remained. The will to protect the humans—that was his cause. A slight giggle uncharacteristically faded across his parched smile after the stupidity of his melancholy came to realization. Having his purpose merely programmed into him would make him no different than that monstrous slave Omega.

The subtle glow of the shining light sky gave a momentary lapse of peace. It would be a couple more hours before auto-repair would do its job well enough for him to get up.

"I can barely move anyway so I might as well think of some plan"

At this point, the guardian had begun to consider the impossible. It was wondrous how a few hours of simple thinking cleared one's conscience. At one hand, his master had just lost to whom every Neo Arcadian was convinced would bring ruin to everyone and terrorize the innocent multitudes. On the other, the possibility of Weil having tampered with his master was more than definite.

"Perhaps the Resistance was right. Perhaps we had all been fighting for the wrong cause this entire time..." The possibility of fighting alongside Zero no longer pained him.

It definitely did not help that he could not afford to get a mission debriefing without revealing his undisclosed information. After all, the guardian was outcast as a traitor by none other than Dr. Weil himself.

From the moment he had first laid eyes on the madman, he knew something had been amiss. How could his wise and powerful master fall for the ramblings of a psychopath who had led most of the world to ruin centuries ago? No matter what the mistake Harpuia had never developed any ill will towards human error. After all, he and every reploid knew how it felt to be able to think like a human. What Weil had done to the world however was unforgivable—human or not. Intuition had started on its tracks soon as the conniving maniacal eyes of a senile tyrant condescendingly looked upon everyone in the Hunter Base of Neo Arcadia.

The oil had stopped dripping and every gear and thruster was in an acceptable enough state. Core levels were no longer infuriatingly blinking at critical and the instability of a weary mind had already started to clear. Vision no longer showed up as blurs but vividly revealed solid objects to the very last crack and corner of shattered concrete walls. It was fortunate that no orders have been sent to investigate the battleground otherwise some definite horrors would be guaranteed. Scouting up in the skies would be extremely unwise as it would just bring more trouble—after hours of fighting injured the guardian definitely did not want to try it again.

A bout of curiosity had started to go into consideration. It had become more than obvious that strange green portals had been appearing since Omega's shuttle had crashed. To the human eye these portals would not even be visible but could only be noticed as slight whispers of dispersing energy from an unknown source. Reploids on the other hand could see these strange floating rifts as something of a door to an unknown world. Squadrons of Pantheons were sent there before only to be found outside the portals in pieces hours later. Oddly, there had been several sightings of Zero entering these portals and coming out completely unscathed.

A swift return to the ruined Snow Base revealed that most of the portals were still in sight. Troops must still be in repair since none could be found anywhere near these doors. As if beckoning him to come inside, the portal shone and flickered in a subtle bluish glow. The guardian outstretched a finger into the gateway as the armor and material disintegrated into nothing yet still felt attached. Holding his breath, Harpuia now entered the unknown green gateway, eager to see what secrets lay inside.


	4. Vortex

Flashes of blue light illuminated the deep gashes in Harpuia's broken armor. For a split second, things had been far too bright to see. A moment's adjustment to the ethereal world revealed much more than the guardian had ever expected. The world that lay before him looked especially familiar—an almost exact spitting image of the world that he had just left. The buildings lay where they were, though the damage had been completely eradicated. No longer were there sights of shattered and cracked concrete floors and jutting out articles of loose armors and weaponry. Strange as it was, every so often his eyes would deceive him by showing every corner of the almost perfect landscape in a light shade of green, then fading out. One thing that bothered him though was that things seemed almost too perfect.

Before he noticed anything had even been in there, something or rather, someone had been watching him since he entered the portal. This shadowy figure face-covered in a decorated white mask and a flowing crimson scarf had decided not to disclose his element of surprise until he was truly sure this was not some sort of fabrication.

After two and a half hours of wandering past the deserted streets and boulevards of the barren, otherworldly landscape, Harpuia had finally come across some oddity. A wide oval-shaped silver gate had been standing before him, with its centre flowing with some strange bluish-purple substance. Thinking nothing of the danger that might lie before him, the guardian peered forward into the strange portal within this world only to find himself almost immediately pulled away with some familiar display of strength. The automatic response to this of course was resistance as the guardian insisted that he go inside the portal. Whatever the case, a new unfamiliar sense of excitement had begun to flow through his mechanical veins.

The same sequence of flashes had begun to take hold of Harpuia's sight, only this time he was prepared for whatever was inside. Shocked, he stepped back as he saw his fallen brother Phantom standing before him in a you-shouldn't-have-stepped-in sort of look in his eye.

"Why did you resist brother?" the masked reploid asked.

"Phantom! What are you doing here? I-I'm so glad to see you-"

Before finishing his sentence he found himself dodging one of Phantom's signature projectiles.

"What are you doing?!?!"

The masked reploid said nothing, and merely pointed behind the damaged warrior.

Sparks could be heard from somewhere, though Harpuia was sure that it did not come from his own body.

"Think fast and move! We don't have time to speak!"

Immediately blurs of movement could be seen circling around the two guardians. Harpuia had drawn out his blades for the first time in hours. Standing back to back the two guardians decided to land the first strike with whatever was trying to assail them.

With blinding speed, Phantom unloaded a massive array of kunai and other projectiles, littering the ground with several bombs and then immediately flying on top of his large shuriken. Harpuia followed immediately after and summoned a field of lightning around where he and his brother were positioned. The assailants immediately reacted. One had thrown several metallic boomerangs before disappearing off to somewhere unknown. The other had summoned some type of circular unit that did not look as if it had any use.

The red and blue blurs had at first seemed like something the Anchus brothers would execute however with the style of attack it seemed highly unlikely. The trajectory of the weapons looked as if the assailants had extremely bad aim, though both guardians were prepared for anything.

Not looking as if much damage could be inflicted by the metallic boomerangs, Harpuia dashed towards the nearest wall. Thinking that the projectiles would get stuck to the wall due to its slow trajectory, the emerald-armored guardian recklessly flew towards the one who had fired against him.

"I've got you now!" the guardian stated before sending forth his blades fully thrust forward.

"Hah, what has happened to the famous Maverick Hunters? Have they really degraded this much?" The maverick proudly sneered.

Missing by a few yards Harpuia was surprised that his usual speed was not enough to even catch this opponent who appeared to have teleported behind him. Catching him off guard, he was grabbed by the maverick's head pincers and tossed to the air before he could regain control. The metallic projectiles that had been thrown earlier appeared to have passed through the solid walls and inflicted damage with perfect synergy and accuracy.

"I swear your master was much more skilled than you ever were when we first fought"

"You've fought with my master X?", Harpuia mouthed in pain as he struggled to get to higher ground.

"Brother! Now!"

Suddenly an array of small black spheres surrounded the emerald guardian before activating immediately after.

"AAaaaaghh!!!!"

Phantom was not having too easy of a time either. While it was true that his stamina would never run out in cyberspace it was always troublesome to be fighting Mavericks, whose souls had still been corrupted in their return. Every projectile and trap that he threw at the blue beetle could be sucked into a small black vortex and rendered ineffective. The trajectory of his flight pattern was also quite unpredictable though he managed to at least dodge every charge attack that the Maverick incurred. A single hit would likely damage even him to an unpleasant state.

The planning of these brothers put both guardians in a hectic state. It was certain that they had not met with one another since one had lost his physical body against Zero but the lack of teamwork each had was disappointing to both. Seeing his brother in a dire state, he dashed away from the blue beetle that he realized had been only distracting him. These two mavericks had only been playing with both of them.

"It's about time to finish this off" the red maverick sneered. "Let's give them a show eh brother?"

The blue reploid merely nodded.

Sending forth a barrage of spherical projectiles and boomerang cutters the beetles prepared for a last assault at the two guardians who at that same moment were literally starting to get ripped apart.

"Damn, they're hurting us faster than our data can reform." Phantom said while cursing under his breath. Meanwhile Harpuia had strangely felt a tremendous surge of power. He took advantage of this by beginning to summon high winds for a counterattack. Phantom stood amazed as he himself could feel his power starting to grow.

"You do understand what happens next right Phantom?" the irritated guardian mouthed.

A fury of storms gathered around the two guardians while Phantom sent his projectiles at the storm. Within seconds the winds that formed the tornado had turned into a tempest of energy blades and lightning. As the gravity wells and the blades collided Harpuia and Phantom charged out of the whirlwind and into the surprised beetles, heavily thrusting their blades into the mavericks' cores. Using the altered gravity to their advantage, Harpuia lowered the pressure of the winds he used, forming the whirlwind of blades of lightning into a massive compressed mass of air that resembled a buzzsaw. As the guardians dashed out of the way the giant blade tore at the armor and bodies of the mavericks faster than they could even scream in anger and pain.

The mavericks' eyes quickly faded into white as they lost feeling of their bleeding fingertips.

Panting, Harpuia simply cackled in a lightly joking tone, "Now, why couldn't we have just tried that with Zero?" before nearly bursting into a relieved chuckle.

Phantom rarely smiled but this was one of those times that beneath his mask of duty and metal that hid most of his face a gleeful expression were apparent even if one wasn't looking.

A faint light emanated from behind one of the reforming rubble, beckoning them to follow. Steps later, Phantom realized his error and bowed down to the ground. Harpuia stood befuddled at the sight until he saw the disappointed look of the person behind the blinding light.

"You disappoint me Phantom, haven't I told you clearly not to go inside this portal? That this very place is reserved solely for the imprisonment of the mavericks that have strayed off too far into cyberspace? In disobeying my strict orders you've not only endangered your own life but that of your brother's as well."

In a sorrowful tone Phantom replied, "I understand master X. It won't happen again."

"Master X!?!?! Is that really you!?!"

"As for you Harpuia, I thought you would know better than to carelessly peer into dangerous situations without the least bit of concern for your safety. You should have planned better. If I hadn't given you both a small shard of my power you would have been easily destroyed by those two."

"I, I understand."

"Now, let's get out of here." The ghost's serious look changed to a much more lighthearted one. "Oh, and Phantom, for the last time no more of that 'master' stuff okay?"

The bright light surrounding him faded down to show the legendary warrior in his ceremonial robes. A portal appeared in front of where he waved his hand trivially.

Without questioning Harpuia followed the two into the portal, but not without hearing the yelps of an enraged looking ostrich reploid running at full speed towards them.

"Another one?" Harpuia prepared to energize his blades.

"No need for that." A split second later the ostrich was found unrecognizable with several puncture holes from the legendary warrior's arm cannon. The portal sealed up a few moments afterwards.


	5. Memories

"What's this? I can't seem to move" The heavily armoured guardian of fire commented as his energy continued to fade.

"Lost in a cycle of halted rebirth", said X in a grave yet firm tone. "His soul wishes to roam free from his torn wretched body."

"What's going on? What's happening to Fefnir?"

"The same could be said of the girl whose very essence is melting like the ice from which she has lived to control." X then turned around. "Phantom, Harpuia, I have a task to ask of you two."

"Yes Master!" The two guardians immediately saluted.

A great aura of energy appeared around the ethereal figure as he gathered some strength to open a portal to another region. Thrusting his hands forwards a great surge of power ripped the surroundings directly in front of him. Every artificial wall and structure cracked to reveal the green glowing essence that Harpuia would see on regular intervals. Soon the room they were in would completely blank out and nothing would be left save the three heroes and the portal that was unfolding before their eyes. Gradually a rift began to open generating a few bolts of green lightning before dissipating and finally stabilizing in a perfectly spherical gateway.

"Phantom, you keep watch over Harpuia. Harpuia, stick with Phantom and don't get lost. Where I'm sending the both of you, you can't afford to be separated."

"What about you Master X?" Harpuia inquired a moment before entering the gate.

"I have a pressing task to take care of. I'll meet up with the both of you later but for now, enter the portal before it closes."

Resolutely and without hesitation, Harpuia and Phantom stepped forward into the gate. As they did so both could feel a great flood of faint memories and power from their Master. Immediately they knew what they were going to do. The portal closed and X slowly vanished and gazed with melancholic eyes.

"Zero, Fefnir, Leviathan, just hang in there a little bit longer.

* * *

"Zero, you've done so much for us but I'm sorry, we still can't find Weil but we have an idea of what he might try to do. I'll open that data file that you recovered now."

_Disk 018: File #945388_

_=The Elf Wars=_

_Near the end of the Maverick Wars, many Cyber-elves were used…the period from this time until the end of the fighting was referred to as the Elf Wars, as a result….._

As Ciel read the data file Zero felt a small knocking at the back of his head. A few flashes of the events started to come back to him. Eventually he was just standing in a bare field half blinded in the smoke and carnage that was around him. His loyal partner looking desolately furious more than he had ever been was clutching on to a fallen comrade's helmet. Dusty white hands clenched nearly to the point of bleeding while normally pacifistic eyes looked uncharacteristically bloodthirsty. X's head was faced down to the ground and although his cobalt helmet covered most of his face at this point Zero could hear a few sobs of pain from his comrade. He admired his partner for his ability to feel for others, something he wasn't capable of since the Repliforce incident possibly decades ago. X knelt to the ground and swore that he would put a stop to Weil no matter what.

"X, X don't just sit there! The longer we stay here the more humans and reploids we'll have to sacrifice! Get moving or it's going to get worse!"

Raising his head up X began to wipe his tears. Standing resolutely he motioned his arms and crushed the helmet he had been grabbing onto. Zero stared at the shards of thick armor that fell into the ground like falling snow. The moment felt like it was freezing but Zero knew it wasn't because of X's time manipulation. Before the first piece could hit the ground, X's gashed armor had fully healed and he was fully suited in an armor that Zero had never encountered before. His suit appeared to have been a combination of all his previous suits, even those that had been destroyed long ago in their skirmishes against Sigma. Glowing with a white-hot aura X unclenched his right fist and formed it into a buster. The other hand grabbed onto the Z-saber his partner had passed onto him on one intense fight where only one of them would walk away from. His anger had not yet passed, his grip nearly crushing even the Z-saber.

"Zero, let's go."

With the previous battle the both of them had gone through neither had the energy to use the Dark Hold. Although it worked at the first few useless waves of minions it appeared as if Weil had learned his lesson and started to use some trace of Sigma's virus data so the rest could resist the attack. Both had used it sparingly but at this point the once ever-useful time stop was out of energy and out of use. This didn't matter of course since X had instantly recovered his colossal energy meter.

"You know X, I'm starting to get jealous with that ability of yours"

And with that X snapped his finger and they both charged towards whatever waves of mindless minions Weil would unleash on them as they infiltrated his fortress.

* * *

A familiar sinister tone of laughter broke Zero from his state of reminisce and immediately into a strong state of defensive readiness. One of the operators then began,

"Excellent detective work, Dr. Ciel"

"What?"

"Unfortunately…you were a little too late."

It was certain who it was. No one else would be able to trace the Resistance Base's signal other than Neo Arcadia. Looking up and bringing himself back to reality, Zero asked,

"Is that Dr. Weil!"

As an image of the madman appeared on the monitor, Zero remembered the fury his partner had displayed so many years ago. He remembered the suffering the both of them had had to go through—the endless waves of innocent reploids they had to slaughter since they had no other choice. Weil had used them all as pawns and he had gotten away. A small droplet of memory would have helped; there was not even the smallest indication of memory regarding why the psychopath wasn't executed just like any other Maverick. The man was no different from Sigma; no, he proved himself to be much worse. Despite the decades of fighting, after some pondering Zero had started to feel some pity for Sigma; at least he had his own reason to act the way he did—the virus didn't give him any other choice. Another wave of laughter broke Zero's train of thought.

"This time, Omega is absolutely perfect. I can now manipulate all the Reploids on the planet, without using the Baby Elves, and make them do whatever I want! Time to start, Omega. Now you will see, pitiful humans, what you get for banishing me!"

If any words could describe the fury Zero had developed such words would have had the power to physically crush the ears of whoever was unfortunate enough to hear them.

Without a pause the lunatic continued:

"Taste the fear... Foolish Reploids, who banished me! Inscribe my name, upon this world... The name of your new ruler! That name is Dr. Weil. The entire world is in my hands... I have the power to crush it between my fingers at any time!"

In a desperate scream Ciel uttered, "No!"

The doors in between Zero and Ciel opened in swift unison as mindless soldiers from the Resistance barged in an orderly fashion. While brandishing their guns no signs of regret could be seen in their eyes. Unyielding and ruthless each soldier began to surround the two, and Zero knew he would have to do the unthinkable and grabbed onto his sabers. Ciel let out another ear-piercing scream.

"This can't be happening!"

Zero yelled for Ciel to get back as the soldiers all mindlessly shouted their praise towards their new ruler. They had no choice but to. Minds overridden by the power of the Dark Elf they marched closer to carry out their deed. Right as Zero was about to ignite his sabers someone interfered.

"Both of you, freeze!"

Each soldier lost their strength and began falling to the ground uniformly. A small fading flash of light revealed that it was X who had saved them. Looking all around Ciel clutched onto Zero's rigid arms as she screamed at the multitudes of comrades she thought had died at that very instant. She knew the real X had immense power, but she didn't know he would be this ruthless about showing it.

"It's okay. They're just unconscious. All I did was disable the power of the Dark Elf. But my current power can only protect those at this base."

Zero returned his sabers back to their sheaths as he impatiently remarked,

"Took you long enough, X. Where's Weil?"

X revealed Weil's location to the operators, noting that for the first time in decades, he had seen the spark of intense determination emanating from Zero's eyes. He then vanished back into cyberspace to meet up with the two guardians—something was definitely amiss. Meanwhile Zero had headed to Weil's location without hesitation and with a full fearless resolve.

Ciel's worried eyes had once again started to water as she beckoned,

"Zero…Come back safely…"


	6. Separation

"Strange…I still can't move my fingers…"

Encased in stone was the almost dismembered soul of the furious leader Fefnir. With every moment that passed his body sought to separate from his soul more and more. The Dark Elf's curse had infected Fefnir and Leviathan and imprisoned them in cages stored in cyberspace. The technicians at Neo Arcadia had trouble diagnosing their cases as their repair systems would fluctuate between auto-repair and shutdown—this would subject them to an unending state of damage and reformation which paid a heavier toll on their internal systems the longer time passed. By the time Weil had taken over Neo Arcadia his faith in the guardians diminished and while Harpuia was in exile, the remaining two guardians had lost their technical support; as a result, they were dying from Omega's monstrous blows days earlier.

"Not a scratch...not as fun..."

In the same way Fefnir was encaged Leviathan had been ironically frozen in the same area not too far away from her impatient brother. She noted that their efforts against Omega had been futile since not a single perfectly landed hit would deal any sort of damage against the monstrous reploid.

* * *

"Do you have any idea where we're supposed to be going? It doesn't seem as if this we're getting anywhere."

Harpuia and Phantom had been rushing at full speed towards a wide empty space which appeared to be endless.

"Whatever the case brother, we cannot afford to lose any more time. "

"Understood."

The end of the empty wasteland was upon them and a steep cliff looked to be dividing a great chasm in the ground. Peering deep into the crevice Harpuia could see a purple glow and hundreds of miniscule bits of data reforming into something of a massive misshapen army.

"Holy shi-"

X appeared in front of them.

"I see neither of you had made it here on time. Now, for my task."

"W-what is it master?" the both of the guardians replied

"As you can see there's a large army of reforming mavericks in this section of cyberspace. I've done all I could to keep them from coming back but I've had to draw back some energy to help Zero."

Phantom's hand flinched while Harpuia instinctively grew more alert. X continued,

"All these riotous scum have grown stronger in my absence, and I need the both of you to help me dispatch them later."

Harpuia's eyes grew alert, noting the blunder that both he and Phantom had gone through; the previous time it had only been two of X's fallen rivals and they had nearly lost their lives. He then remembered the consuming surge of power that his master had given him before the end of the battle. Getting overcome by reckless confidence, the guardian boldly asked,

"Master, why don't we just strike now while they are all still reforming?"

At this point, he was expecting a loud yell from his master, mocking him for his boldness in even suggesting defying his orders. He was still trying to get over the fact that the master he had been serving for several decades had only been a fake but he couldn't shrug off any memories of how his previous master had always treated him. In a gentle voice, X replied,

"Right now in their incomplete forms their bodies seep out with the essence of their former corrupted selves. In this area of cyberspace the programming code has been under so much stress that I've had no choice but to completely disable the reform code. In other words, the only reason they're all starting to reform is because of the traces of the Sigma virus that their 'souls' have yet still contained in them."

The legendary hero's melancholic eyes drove him to a moment of pause as if in a heavy state of reminisce of all the friends he's had to slay. Without revealing the fact that most of those mavericks were his former friends, he added with a steady tone,

"I warn you now unless they completely reform do NOT lay a hand on them or the both of you will likely get infected as well."

Although Phantom seemed to understand what X had been speaking of, Harpuia was confused with the terminology that was being uttered. He knew that in his entire career as a guardian a maverick was nothing more than any reploid who opposed Neo Arcadia. His former master would always hold back any information regarding what the Sigma virus truly was so it was difficult to digest the fact that before he had even existed, mavericks had been a much bigger threat than he originally thought. He cringed at the half-yelling moans and yelps from the reforming masses of mavericks. The sounds of their insane cries broke through the silence in Harpuia's inner thoughts and sent a chill down his spine.

"I've given you both the ability to adapt the abilities of those enemies and integrate it into your own power. You need as much as you need if you want to keep up Zero and help him face Omega. At the end of it you will be much stronger, but don't expect yourselves to be able to beat Zero even after all that."

Phantom had grown impatient since Zero's name had been mentioned. He may have known the truth about the hero but he still had doubts over the legendary reploid's resolve.

"So it appears as if you still have doubts Phantom? I can see it in your eyes that you still have something unfinished left to prove. Very well, go and face Zero and come back after you're satisfied."

Phantom readied himself in front of the portal X opened. His ally gone, Harpuia grew worried.

"Don't forget your pride as a Neo Arcadian and as a warrior brother.", Phantom remarked while stepping into the green gate. He waved his hand in a gesture that stated "I won't be away for long" before he vanished.

"Harpuia, as for you, you need to get your brother and sister. Here's a doorway that will lead to their imprisoned souls."

He flicked a finger revealing yet another small rip through cyberspace.

"There are a few hundred pantheons and a few dozen golems right in there. Phantom will come and assist you after he's done which I don't doubt will take too long. Fefnir and Leviathan are being held captive in that area and they need to be freed fast. I'll hold off some of these mavericks as best I can but make sure to secure Fefnir and Leviathan first."

Harpuia nodded and stepped inside the gateway, feeling more secure knowing his Master was there to support him. His brother's words echoed through his head, giving him his level of confidence and resolve and restoring him back from his state of weakness. Realizing his foolishness in letting his fear seep in he clutched onto his blades and walked forward. As usual the portal closed as soon as Harpuia stepped in. Looking back he saw X mouth some inaudible words that could he interpreted as "Watch...fake...careful..."

* * *

A few bullets came in the way of X which he skilfully dodged noticing who it was that shot at him. A dark blue armored reploid with red trimmings and a bright blue orb shining with a purple essence seeping at the cracks attempted to run at him but found it difficult due to his still incomplete limbs. His struggles served a toll as both his legs shattered with a single shot from X's buster. Crawling at the floor he furiously shouted,

"X...X you traitor!"

He broke into maniacal laughter before continuing with a single eye still glowing, a bright shining purple seeping substance leaking from his cracked head crystal,

"How could you...betray your own kind! We were supposed to be superior, to evolve, to be so much more without those inferior humans holding us back! Why do you insist on fighting for them even in your death!"

While crawling he weakly pointed his pistol at X whose eyes turned from sadness to disgust. Looking down at the shattered maverick X angrily stated,

"You're no different from Sigma now..."

X's ceremonial robes dissolved, revealing his shining cobalt armor and glowing red crystal. Both his arms morphed into busters and he dashed forward. _Even in death the mistakes of the past continue to haunt my poor brothers and comrades. Axl...I'm sorry...

* * *

_

Harpuia had started glowing in excitement. The power his master had given him generated such a strong rush that entire waves of enemies would fall with every swipe of his blades. Restraint was something he had to relearn to use; otherwise he himself would take damage from the strength of his swipes. _Maybe its time to…no, not yet. Not until I've stared into Weil's eyes and see the fear from it_.

Deciding to hold back a little, some pouring waves of pantheons started to overpower the guardian. _You've got to be kidding me._

Unleashing his might, a large saw blade of wind cut through several waves of enemies, tearing away at their cheaply built metallic frames. Using numbers as their main tactics the single eyes of the legions of pantheons flooded the scene so much as that in Harpuia's higher view hardly anything could be seen past the sea of red glowing eyes. Starting to grow impatient with the seemingly endless numbers Harpuia fed a little more power into his attack so that bolts of lightning supported the storm. To finish the trick Harpuia flew to the skies and generated some destructive sonic waves, effectively wiping out massive hordes of up to 30 on contact. Just when he was about to take rest, aerial reinforcements had arrived ready to begin their assault. _So this is where the rest of Neo Arcadia went._ Without waiting for his brother to support him he decided to take this time to waste away some frustration at the very units that have failed him time and time again against his previous skirmishes against Zero and the Resistance.

"Useless fools!"_  


* * *

_

_A swipe, a dash, a few bombs set on the ground. Rinse, repeat, and then suppress him with more projectiles. I won't be tiring here any time soon._

"Surely you can do better than this Zero!"

"I don't have time for this so get out of my way!"

In the flash of an instant Zero appeared right in front of Phantom blades ready to rip him apart. The clang of blades and buster fire illuminated the darkness that the guardian had generated to hide himself. Sparks shone in from where each of the combatants had wounded one another. Each projectile thrown would be deflected by each shot from Zero's buster; the practice of dodging and striking was like something of a dance. Each step was planned, each movement well-thought-out. For each projectile Phantom would throw, Zero would shoot a fully charged shot to get it out of the way then at the nearest opportunity they would close in on each other and shower the other with a movement of blades that would make their arms appear as if they weren't even there. With an unexpected slip, Zero had reacted a second too late.

"All legends are forgotten in the end. Goodbye Zero!"

Phantom thought he had gained the upper hand. As he was about to lay the final thrust on Zero's bleeding chest the crimson warrior began to generate a higher level of power. The fury of his slashes grew faster and faster until Phantom could no longer keep up with the speed of his opponent. Zero furiously sent Phantom hurdling with a single punch and rushed so quickly at Phantom's location it appeared as if he had teleported there. Before Phantom could land, Zero unleashed his recoil rods and struck at him at an even faster blinding speed. The swipes and stabs were so rapid that Phantom could not even feel his armor burning away into a million shattered bits. His shields were doing practically nothing at the speed Zero was taking them down. Finally with a furious swipe from the crimson warriors charged saber, the shadow lord's mask shattered and he strove to cover his surprisingly satisfied face. He had unclenched his blade in an act of surrender while Zero withdrew his; the duel was over.

"You truly did...have the soul of a hero..."

He bowed his head down with some reverence. Having known the truth about the hero Phantom felt relieved and reassured that the menace that had haunted Neo Arcadia had all the power in him to free the world from Weil's heavy influence. With heavy breaths interrupting his words, Phantom said with respect and a restrained awe,

"Go... Cross blades with Omega, and show what that body can do! Will you blade flinch after you learn the truth? Do you have what it takes...to be a hero? You must be the one to determine that!"

He left a small token to help Zero as he rushed on his way to help Harpuia. He vanished in a cloud of smoke to meet up with him.

Zero picked up the upgrade from Phantom, felt a shard of relief, and went on his way out of the small pocket of cyberspace he had no choice but to enter; the pantheons and golems were gaining on him fast, and he had no time to deal with the likes of anything that might slow him down. He viewed his "reunion" with Phantom as simply one of those exceptions where he couldn't afford to turn his back without getting stabbed. With no clue or care for his sudden burst of strength the crimson warrior rushed out of cyberspace to dismember more mindless minions blocking the thick steel doors where Weil supposedly was. _Ciel, don't worry I'll make it back safely._


	7. Rulers once fallen

"**Large energy signature detected. Warning. Warning."**

The waves of enemies were finished, and Fefnir and Leviathan's containment units were just in the room ahead. Harpuia felt the need to conserve some energy, especially since this part of cyberspace granted him no chance of reforming lost data. In a way this relieved him since his enemies would actually stay down. Blades deactivated and stored, the guardian of wind noticed a blue figure sitting impatiently on a wide white throne.

"Y-you dare to defy my orders, orders?"

Recognizing the overly self-assured voice of a familiar ruler Harpuia felt the need to hesitate. The judgmental red eyes of the figure sitting at his throne looked at him in a condescending manner, eyebrows furrowed in disappointment. He now very well knew he was a fake and that he was being used. The kingdom that he had ruled in his state before being dispatched by the crimson hero was now in the good hands of Dr. Weil however; he trusted that the "good" doctor would eliminate the Resistance with swift prejudice. Humanity would once again be protected and all those threatening it duly punished and retired.

"I don't have any more time for this, please move out of the way so I can get Fefnir and Leviathan."

The guardian clenched his fist, now knowing that the very face of the master he had been serving for all these decades had been but a fake's. After meeting with the original legendary reploid, the fake seemed like nothing more than a cheap replica—exactly as Zero saw him. _Ironic that I'm starting to think alike with the very scum I used to hate_.

"H-how bold you've grown, Harpuia. First defying my orders, next breaking your exile and slaying countless numbers of your very own comrades, and now you DARE to speak with me in such a manner? Have you turned into one of those Resistance extremists?"

The blue reploid rose up from his throne as he said so, anger building in his eyes.

"I'm afraid I c-can't let you pass out of this world and th-threaten any more humans you, you maverick!"

Harpuia felt laughing upon hearing these words. During the few days or hours he has spent inside the world of cyberspace the only certain truths that he has found have only been from his real master—the original Mega Man X. Mavericks? Reploids? Humans? There hardly seemed to be a difference with how each term was treated in his time. Fearsome and threatening the "mavericks" of the current era were to the humans and his very own cause, none of them could cause Harpuia to shiver in fright like the actual Mavericks that the real X had shown him. The insane shrieks of the reforming masses that his master had now been facing still rung in his ear, showing him the true insanity, sheer capability and power of the mavericks X had fought so valiantly centuries ago.

"Maverick? Funny for you to say that 'master'", Harpuia mockingly remarked.

"You d-dare mock me again you scum? You won't get away now. I should have the pleasure of terminating such a traitorous maverick as yourself." The fake reploid prepared to do battle.

"Like I said, I have no time to deal with you. Let me pass so I can free my brother and sister."

In anger the copy reploid screamed, changing forms to that of his familiar white seraph-like armor.

"So this is how it's going to be?"

"Listen, the only maverick I'm seeing here is you. So deluded by your false sense of righteousness you've failed to see the point in saving all the humans we've sworn to protect. Maverick 'master'? I don't believe you've even seen or fought with any of them."

Harpuia sighed, still having a shade of loyalty which prevented him from outright engaging his previous master.

"Zero was right, this whole time we've been slaying thousands of innocent reploids haven't we? And for what? To protect the very same humans from those who simply wish to end the conflict? Dr. Ciel has only been trying to find an effective way to end the energy crisis and we've done nothing but greedily try to take that away from them. Is this truly your idea for peace? Is this what we reploids have to do just to protect those who have nothing to do with the conflict?"

Harpuia felt the blood of all the Resistance soldiers he slew without even batting an eye, the countless times he's fought against those whose motives did not so much differ from his own.

"They've brainwashed you, and now you're part of that futile Resistance."

"No, you're the one who's been brainwashed by that treacherous fiend Weil."

"You, once a proud warrior of Neo Arcadia, falling down in ranks to that of filthy extremists who merely want to cause h-harm to the humans you've sworn to protect? How pitiful the world has become."

"As long as I fight for the sake and safety of humans, I consider myself a true warrior of Neo Arcadia, and I will continue to eliminate those like you who dare interrupt the peace between humans and reploids."

"What b-blasphemy are you spewing out of that filthy mouth of y-yours traitor? You seem to have forgotten your own cause and yet you still consider yourself a Neo Arcadian? Have you gone mad?"

"No, I've simply seen what X and Zero had been fighting for centuries ago and I see no more reason to believe why their wishes should not be granted."

"Hah! The wishes of that extremist and that weakling who never in their dreams achieved the peace that was Neo Arcadia? You must be joking."

Angered by the belittling description that the fake had given of his master, Harpuia loudly stated,

"Don't you dare mock the real Master X! What kind of peace can possibly exist when we're slaying countless of our own kind in order to achieve it? Why can't humans and reploids simply exist together just like the original wishes of Master X and Zero?"

"Such a peace can never exist as long as both races exist. Either one goes or true safety can never result from any amount of fighting. I've simply taken the sacrifice of eliminating those of our kind that threaten the very security of the humans. It's rather simple Harpuia, you're either on the side of Neo Arcadia, or the side of the Resistance scum. I thought you knew better than to question such a simple conclusion."

"It's not as simple as it seems when the cost is destroying just about anyone against your own way of thinking, even if the only 'threat' they're posing is defying your will. We've been fooling the humans into viewing what we're doing as right. Do they even know the peaceful steps the Resistance has attempted just so all the senseless fighting can stop?"

The copy of the legendary hero furiously replied,

"Peaceful? What do you mean? The times they've shut down our defenses, broke into our sacred sanctuaries and threatened to harm the very establishment of Neo Arcadia?"

"No, I meant the Ciel system which would have ended the energy crisis and ended this senseless war."

Harpuia paused, remembering the scene days ago,

"Answer me 'master', who authorized a missile to eliminate an entire district of innocent humans? Surely in all my battles against Zero and the Resistance I've never seen them slay any more than our own Pantheons, Golems, and other tools of destruction. Never have any of them slain any humans and yet you, who say that you fight for the sake of humanity sacrificed so much just to prove yourself a hero! To think I once attempted to sacrifice myself to save you from Zero's blade!"

Trying to compose himself, the fake X paused, caught in an incoherent babble but ultimately failing to find a proper way to justify his own mistake. Harpuia raised an eyebrow, the rest of his expression still filled with disdain for his former master. The fake X then tried to appeal to the green figure standing before him in an attempt to dissuade any more accusations.

"You were t-too late, for the s-sake of Neo Arcadia you would have been better off d-dead in trying to save me. You would have received an honor beyond all compare just like your brother Phantom."

Harpuia proudly remarked,

"Funny you mentioned him, he thinks in exactly the same way as I do."

"Ungrateful curs!"

Anything could happen at this point, but wind guardian felt the need not to waste any more time talking. His master could either move out of the way or he would be forced to commit the biggest act of treason any Neo Arcadian ever imagined—the assassination of Copy X.

Sonic blades unsheathed, the emerald-armored warrior stepped forward, using his speed as an advantage. By the time his former master unleashed the devastating ferocity of the Nova Strike on him, Harpuia had already dealt a few heavy blows on the fake's chest. Blurs of white and green covered the scenery pausing within intervals of seconds only to clash back once more unleashing greater amounts of sparks in the same way that fireworks unleash its own beautiful set of colors among those privileged in watching the spectacle. Each caught between his own set of beliefs, the exhilarating display of combat capability showed itself as a blitz between the two former rulers of Neo Arcadia. One fought merely for the sake of humanity, sacrificing all without a second thought to achieve that goal, the other was willing to sacrifice a perfect utopia for the sake of coexistence between humans and reploids. Harpuia failed to grasp the concept of him actually dealing more damage to his fallen master; all he cared about was that a tyrant was in his way and that he needed to deal with him fast.

Copy X could hardly keep up with the capability of his former apprentice as blow after blow sent a weakening crack to his beloved seraph armor. With each shot he fired at the guardian a bullet would be deflected and another set of sonic waves would chase upon him like hordes of locusts. Lightning surrounded him all over and before he knew it, he was trapped—caged in a prison of lightning, wind, and missiles the guardian would fire back at him. Each giving the other his all they both charged into one another at top speed, though the other very well knew that speed was not his forte. Harpuia managed to land more decent swipes in the shoulder regions of his former master, debilitating the latter's aim to a more pitifully slow level. His armor almost completely shattered, the fallen ruler in the white seraph armor attempted to transform to his larger second form, only to be kicked unconscious by a resolute Harpuia charging at him at top speed. The shattering blow of the kick destroyed half the upper portion of the tyrant's helmet, revealing a single red glowing eye among the fragments of ceratanium that made up the rest of his body. Crashing down past the very throne he was once sitting in, the copy could only mutter a few swears under his breath as his body started to fail in obeying what his mind had been telling it. The tyrant reached out with one arm grabbing a pile of debris from the ground they fought in before collapsing completely into the ground, the one unscathed eye closed, the other's red glow faded away.

Harpuia coughed out some blood at the culmination of his duel. He felt that he perhaps let himself get carried away, so that each powerful set of swipes actually paid a toll for his body as well. His body ready to collapse and his helmet-mounted wing extensions shattered, the guardian landed on one knee, trying to regain some composure. His arms lay bleeding with internal oil while his green vambraces were cracked to the point of nearly falling off. His back-mounted thrusters had burned themselves out, being discolored by a shade of black smoke and few burn marks on several parts of his body. A thick blue and orange gate stood in front of him. _Fefnir, Leviathan, just hold on a little while longer. I just really, really need to rest._

The guardian succumbed to all the direct hits from the copy's Nova Strike and fell to the ground unconscious in front of the wide door.

* * *

"Phantom, he should be around here. Transport him to the nearest portal at point AC-20 and don't forget to retrieve your siblings. I assume the area is now secure?"

"Yes Master, Harpuia has dealt with everything with swift efficiency. There's not a single functioning unit left in sight."

"Excellent. Make sure to congratulate him for me later when he wakes up, I might take a little bit longer here so I might not get to tell him in person."

"Understood."

"As for the fake?"

"Nowhere in sight, Master although there are a few loose fragments of his armor lying about."

"Keep your vigilance and tell me at once if he comes back. I'll have to deal with him personally."

"Yes master."

The shadow lord followed his orders and placed Harpuia on his back whilst opening the wide gate. Noticing that the doorway failed to comply with his request, Phantom unsheathed one of his blades and prodded around the control panel that lay within. Once the protective grating was knocked off, Phantom merely extended an arm at the direction of the control panel and the gate locks began to shift. _The few tricks I've learned on my stay here have really proved useful especially at times like this._

A wide blank room with floating symbols of data drifted off into a spiraling abyss where the trails of data eventually connected to two separate cages glowing red and blue respectively. He spotted two floating essences that almost resembled cyber elves caged in encrypted shells. Quick and careful dexterity would be needed in order to unlock the codes without damaging his siblings' data. Phantom immediately outreached both arms and blended his arms to where the strips of data would meet the shells. A control panel of sorts was created and Phantom's quick fingers found way to tamper with the defense code so that the two shells would unlock. The task would have been much easier if his brother had been awake but in a way it was his own fault since he could not make it for taking too long in his duel with Zero. Harpuia's weight was starting to be a bother so Phantom abruptly transported him back to X's usual abode using a simple portal trick his master had taught him in the case of him getting lost in the vast world of data. As Harpuia drifted into the land of memories and dreams Phantom was busy strenuously trying to unlock both their siblings' cages—a task he was not so thrilled in fulfilling compared to his other more challenging missions.


	8. Recruitment

_Author's note: There were a few details that I missed the first time around but since they were pointed out I thought I'd just include them. It's just a small edit consisting of a few additions to Harpuia's portion and a small part explaining the reason Fefnir and Leviathan woke up being cyber elves. Just for quick reference the additions are near the end of each section if you're still interested in them. Thanks for reading everyone! =D

* * *

_Dust and debris covered a barren landscape scarred by bombs and bolts of blaster fire. Nearby buildings and structures were on the verge of collapse showing skeletal frames of metal heavily corroded. Within a timeframe of a few seconds, small glints of light would pierce through the heavy clouds of smoke and dust that enveloped the entire city. In a distant corner a few dozen footsteps could be audibly heard despite the muffled raging of the merciless sandstorm. A single figure stood in the midst of it all—a warrior who refused to move a single inch from where he stood. The saviour who had sacrificed all to fulfill a dream that many had deemed impossible stood unflinching, unmoving, yet still in the loud yells of chaos managed to continue in his swift strides artistically dodging every shard, projectile and plasma bolt that could be possibly thrown at him. Though the storm continued to rage on, the battle cry of the many fallen comrades that day echoed through the warrior's ears; where the champion of humanity hated the very idea of the atrocities he would have to commit to his fellow brothers he enjoyed every single last bit of the struggle that ensued.

A tempest of sorts tossed around near the eye of the storm. The saviour of humanity had put up this deadly front of elemental fury on purpose to put an end to Sigma's plans; though the accursed virus remained without a body, his lasting influence on the land still continued to ravage the once peaceful landscapes of Elysium. The time in which peace finally reigned between humans and reploids unfortunately was too short-lived. Remnants of the colossal Maverick War still continued to wreak havoc on whatever innocent reploid was unfortunate enough to cross paths, ultimately falling prisoner to the great unyielding grasp that consisted of the remains from the Sigma virus. His friend still asleep through his own volition, the reluctant warrior accepted in his heart that the battles had lost meaning to him long ago.

* * *

Struggling to see past the thick walls of rubble and the deadly storm that started it all, the recovering guardian summoned a pillar of wind to try and clear his pathway. Immediately of note to Harpuia was not only the fact that his tornado was utterly ineffective but also that the storms were nothing more than a series of recurring holograms repeatedly phasing in and out of sight.

Exhausted from his previous battle the warrior removed his cracked helmet and dropped it to the ground, sending more chipped pieces astray as the storm fed on its remains. The strength of the raging winds tossed his now unkempt hair around but not enough to cover his jaded green eyes. Since his first loss against Zero, Harpuia had stopped the process of trimming his usually short and organized hair. If it was a signal of rebellion or of loss of pride, the guardian never knew—after a while neglecting his monthly trim had become a pointless habit that needed no explanation. Still, with the strict disciplined demeanor of Harpuia even this case was never left to fully be left disregarded. The light brown tufts of hair twisted and caught gray bits of dust as it tossed around; it should have proven a nuisance however for the moment the lack of extra weight on Harpuia's head made him feel slightly relieved. Regardless, the small trifle of the 4 or 5 inches that he left uncut was something he'd deal with _much much _later, presumably when everything was finished. Wherever Phantom sent him was a wonder.

* * *

Initializing cipher code 397625...

Transfer in progress 87%...

Rebooting program in 3...2...1...

Reformat complete.

Shards of floating data chips disappeared around where Phantom had laid his hands. Within a few moments his siblings would awaken and his debriefing would begin. Conveniently, Harpuia was given a head start to explore the vast stores of memory X had created in his own private abode. Phantom was quite confident in Harpuia's ability to adapt and last through the storms of pain and suffering both physical and mental that his master had used to test his own capabilities.

The cage was now rendered obsolete and transformed into an empty patch of corrupted data. Rewriting it was simple enough which helped to convert a field of jutting "concrete" and floating dark masses of corrupted data into a peaceful though empty vault.

Blinking to see two floating cyber elves in his midst, Phantom stared and timidly whispered,

"So, I see you two are awake"

"Where are we? And why the hell am I so tiny?"

"Oh, dear." The blue elf chuckled. "Looks like someone woke up angry...as usual."

The two floating objects looked around and noticed the masked figure standing before them. Their eyes shone with wonder as they recited in unison,

"Phantom!"

With miniature "wings" of data, the frozen looking cyber elf excitedly exclaimed,

"Phantom! I can't believe you're alive! I missed you so much! Well Fefnir here definitely won't admit it, but he's missed you as much as Harpuia and I."

"F-forget what she just told you. Where have you been all this time you lazy bastard! We could've used your help in taking down the Resistance scum!"

"I see neither of you have changed much in my absence. And yes, I can see your small blush Fefnir."

"Sh-shut up you prick! We all thought you were dead!"

"That's because I am."

The graveness of his tone made it difficult to believe otherwise.

"If the both of you would stop acting so distracted and actually pay attention to your surroundings, you'd have noticed that something was greatly amiss."

With a brief pause, the two circled around their fallen brother and observed the surroundings. Empty walls of white engulfed the barren landscape for miles and miles, giving the illusion of a never-ending field. The constant buzzing of their "wings" was enough to create a tiny sphere of color around each of their bodies which, in turn, helped to give a short distinction of color in the midst of the purity of the field. Wide-eyed the two sleeping guardians felt a stir and calmed down from their wanderings. The intrigued guardian of ice implored,

"So Phantom, why are Fefnir and I like this?"

Phantom proceeded to explain the fate of cyber elves once they reached cyber space and although Fefnir impulsively interrupted a few times with his questions, eventually the two understood how their situation was. Their fierce battle with Omega had left their bodies in great disrepair, leaving their souls to be in a state of loss. In order to stop any unnecessary interference from the guardians, Dr. Weil had immediately discontinued the repairs their bodies had been scheduled to receive; as a result in order to save whatever data their souls contained, they were caged in protective shells and guarded by their former master who found them in cyberspace. The longer they remained in the reality made of data, the quicker their actual bodies would degrade. Without souls to contain the bodies would be nothing more than lifeless shells that slowly drained of their power. At the moment, the shock of waking up had left Fefnir and Leviathan in a light daze which made parts of Phantom's exposition hard to believe. Everything as it was looked like some kind of dream where memories and imagination hardly had any distinction; at the very least if they really were to die, they had the luxury of not feeling the pain that was afflicting their broken bodies.

Phantom was of course fully aware of how mere explanation would give the truth no justice. Based on what was said earlier by the fiery general, neither of his siblings was ready to accept the truth about Zero and the resistance unless both were able to shatter their walls of prejudice and bias. In order to do this, Phantom would have to convince them of the existence of the fake X—something that would not be simple considering the fake had vanished after a match against Harpuia.

"What a load of junk. Do you honestly expect us to work with that maverick filth after all that he's done to us?"

Silence permeated through the blank walls of the tomb that the guardians of fire and ice were imprisoned in. With due time, Phantom would remember to use the memory replay program and pass on what he had learned in his travels in cyberspace. He would do not only this, but teach the two how to project full usable bodies in cyberspace in the same way that X could project himself in the real world. In the meantime, the guardian was at a clear loss of what to say. _I knew something like this would happen. Think, there has to be a way to convince them._

"Phantom, what's wrong?"

Both were clearly offended by being told of their mistakes and shortcomings but no amount of scolding would anger them so much than asking them to work alongside their worst rival.

Phantom flicked his fingers in realization and brought out a string of data codes which entwined in between his arms and fingers. With yet another session of tedious typing the masked guardian would unlock the program for revealing each tidbit of memory he had experienced in his stay. Not only would they be able to see everything that had happened but they would also be able to physically experience each tiny detail of the hardships the master had put him through.

* * *

Reboot program complete

Systems check:  
Optic sensors operating under full capacity...  
Reactor levels stabilized...  
Fusion core generator running at peak efficiency...  
Movement system matrix under control...  
Voice recognition system booting in 4 seconds...3...2...1...complete.  
Voice generation device authorized. Opening route connections to main fusion core.

Faint noises escalated with increasing tenacity, revealing not only slight taps of noise but also furious words filled with hatred.

"Schilt, I see you've finally woken up you scum!"

Vision slowly clearing the white-robed judge awoke to notice himself firmly strapped to a wall. Several wires jutting about entangled around his wrists, preventing much if any movement. A tight metal brace around each of his arms and legs withheld any form of freedom he might have desired in those few waking moments while thick protruding silver prongs served to continuously sting each of his visibly bare sensory nerves. A slight arch of the neck gave an immense amount of pain from the thick entanglement of copper and platinum which directly pierced through his skull. Surprisingly despite the plethora of internal screams he forced himself to stifle, he noticed no trace of oil leaking out of his broken body. Whoever had woken him up made sure that he suffered for as long as possible.

Soon as he noticed that the wave of pain had begun to weaken, a great rush of memories overwhelmed his already weakened mindset. It was difficult to tell whether his ordeal was simply some sort of twisted nightmare. His arms would instinctively convulse once within the margin of several seconds; within the same timeframe he would struggle to keep his searching eyes stable all the while trying to keep a tight hold of his fading sanity. Simultaneous blurs of vision would subject him to a tango where dreams and reality would rapidly switch turns in a fiasco until the distinction was utterly irrelevant. Eventually he would cease in his struggle to break free of his control and would let the machine flood him with pain which would over time transform into a sadistic source of pleasure.

A small growing grin etched itself onto his face; his natural free will had begun to diminish. He clenched both hands until oil began to drip out of them like a life form eager to break free. A few controlled yet furious swipes tore at the wires which connected to each one of his nerves, skilfully severing their connections without causing any unnecessary pain. Naturally the auto-repair system would commence as soon as he stopped receiving damage. Breathing was a luxury at this point and he made sure to take in as much air as he hungered for. His convulsions had not yet begun to cease but he needed and hungered for relief. Within moments his wounds would heal themselves and he would be able to get up, or at the very least pull himself together.

Purple restless eyes scanned the austere room only to find similar lifeless beings who he knew would face the same pain as he as soon as they begin to realize they had been brought back. None of them had woken up; however this did not mean that he himself could just weakly wait for them as if to beg for support. With a pain-filled shriek the awakened judge beckoned,

"Lord Weil!"

He lay his head down at the figure that floated in his midst. Eyes ever so condescending looked through him, reminding him of the reason he had fallen to ruin in the hands of the Resistance's elusive hero. Before he could give the slightest reaction in wild protest, another golden clad reploid of gigantic proportions grabbed hold of him and effectively crushed him between his fingers. His severely weakened body had within moments become limp but this was not enough to prevent him from feeling the pain of being rammed through several concrete walls at full force. Gurgles of oil dripping out of his mouth prevented him from taking in any more of the air that he so desired but as much as he desired for it, his body would not simply let him rest.

A loud screech was made painfully audible across the crowded hallways where legions of fully armed pantheons prepared for their desperate attempt of defence. None of them gave the slightest notion of care as they mindlessly marched in order into the battlefield. Their enemy would be arriving in a few moments and time was a luxury that could not be bought.

The towering gold reploid hung the suffering judge like a rag doll in front of the newly waking judges to use as an example. Their awakening sessions had not yet ended but they could see the regret in the hanging judge's eyes. The tyrant responsible for the order snapped his finger and with that the towering reploid smashed the limp body onto the floor and wiped off the puddle of oil that had left a gruesome stain on his claws.

"You fools! How dare you let that belligerent fake dispatch you! You, all among my greatest creations!"

A fierce stare struck fear even through the hearts of the hardened slaves. Freedom of thought was an affair that would not cross their minds after years and years of slow brainwashing. Though at first they were built to simply help X determine the mavericks at the time, Weil's reprogramming had corrupted them so much that even their very perceptions of themselves had faded away. Although this was the case sometimes they themselves would question why they would be acting the way they were only to have those thoughts washed away by their new programming. Weil knew of each of their doubts, their systems of belief and more. After all, not only has he tinkered with their innards countless times before but unbeknownst to everyone else it was he who had built them in the first place.


	9. Lapse of time

_Author's note: I'm terribly sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. You see I've been quite busy with several things and I've been so distracted with other things as well. I tried reading through some of the previous chapters just to be able to come up with a coherent addition to the story but while doing that, I got confused with all the loose ends. Just a warning that this chapter is a bit longer than the others since I tried to close up some of the mini digressions that popped up in the story. Having tiny digressions in almost every chapter does pile up after a while to the point where it doesn't make as much sense to have them so hopefully this chapter took care of most of those. After this, I think it's going to be a bit easier to go back to the mainstream plot that I was trying to go for. Thanks again for the continued support =D_

* * *

Moments afterward, noise had once again begun to populate the sensitive ears of the wounded judge, causing him to get up despite his sustained injuries. Eyes refusing to move from their lifeless stance, the other judges sheepishly bowed to their lord and master. The remaining judge wanted to finally be put to rest more than anything yet his body forced him to step up from his oozing puddle of oil into a painful kneel.

His pristinely white cloak had become stained by the blackness of his own blood while his usually orderly hair had become so unravelled it resembled a small lynx wanting to break free from its cage. Merely opening his mouth ever so slightly would cause bubbles of oil to seep through so he would have no choice but to keep his mouth firmly shut and covered by his shivering fingertips.

The rest of the judges paid no heed to his suffering as they intently listened to their malevolent Lord Weil.

"Listen you pathetic packs of rats! We absolutely cannot afford to let the Resistance get a foothold on our precious Neo Arcadia. Those extremists must pay no matter what the cost!"

After a brief pause, he intently continued,

"Right now they have no idea what's in store for them...and we are going to exploit that."

Wanting to make extra sure of his preparations, he addressed the judge standing firm behind the suffering reploid.

"Foxtar, report."

The judge known for specializing in strategic involvement stepped forth to the angered tyrant. Eyes followed where the judge strode forward. With graceful movements the judge made the legions of warriors give a silent revering awe-filled bow. The judge then spoke,

"Lord Weil, there are currently no records of any fatalities in the Resistance Base. Though there is a small chance of them finding the coordinates to our section we must not yield an inch until every single one of them is eliminated. Until then, we must defend the main gates of Neo Arcadia leading to this area."

Pleased to hear exactly what he wanted to hear, the aged tyrant uncrossed his arms.

"Excellent assessment, Foxtar. It's nice to see that not everyone in this facility is _**entirely**_ useless. What is the current number of our troops?"

With clouded doubtful eyes, the clever judge weakly replied,

"Excluding the other judges and I, there are around 400 pantheon units left to guard this vicinity without compromising the rest of Neo Arcadia."

"400? What happened to the rest of the standby troops I had prepared?"

"The 350 idle troops stationed at the Frontline Ice Base were destroyed beyond repair by Harpuia, my Lord. The units that we have right now include the ones mostly recovered-"

"That blasted little worm! How dare he...how did he?..."

The tyrant took a deep breath to regain composure.

"Foxtar, call off the reconnaissance units in the cyberspace portals. We're going to need more support numbers for our defence."

"My lord, it seems those too have been eliminated."

At this point the judge was prepared for the same beating as her comrade.

Taking another deep breath, the ruler calmly declared,

"Dispose of the remaining guardians. I'll have none of those rats interfering with my plan. As for Harpuia, shoot him on sight but leave enough of him alive. I'll need to personally show him something later."

The judge bowed and headed towards the front where the other judges were stationed. Using a loud, booming voice, Lord Weil the self-proclaimed ruler of Neo Arcadia began his dictation. He raised his left index finger and pointed to a transparent screen which showed oceans of pantheons ready for their assault.

"Here is how the defence is going to go: Area X is currently being protected by a main gate. Have no less than 200 pantheons and mechaniloids protecting that gate! Continually patrol that area and report immediately in the case of any type of breach. Flizard, Childre, Deathtanz, and Schilt, you will all take charge of that battalion."

In unison hundreds of red glowing eyes lowered only to rise again seconds later and then rush to their formations. Three of the four judges named immediately marched to their stations as the fourth struggled to get up. His wounds had barely closed but with any luck, he would be in a decent enough condition by the time he arrived at his post. Hellbat Schilt of the Eight Gentle Judges coughed out blood and wiped it from his mouth. Limping was inexcusable in his high regard so he willed himself to walk to his station in proper and upright stance, all the while forgetting about the messy oil trails he was leaving behind. Thoughts had started to once more creep through his circuits and he was able to take note of everything that had just happened before succumbing almost immediately to his corrupted state. _I need not doubt anything my master bids me to do._

"This brings us to the second gate. Have another 200 troops stationed at that area before the second gate... Foxtar, Glacier, Tretista and Volteel all four of you will see to it that the area is not breached. Do not separate, I repeat, Do NOT Separate under any circumstance! You cannot afford to be dispatched by that same outdated fake! Foxtar, I trust you to give the formation sequence information to everyone. Report directly to me should any of these maggots fail to abide."

The devilishly clever judge complied with a smirk and then marched on. Weil turned on his way facing the gigantic reploid.

"Omega, you come with me."

Without showing any signs of thought or resistance the bulky golden giant followed his ruler and master. The lesson he had given the judge earlier had gotten him quite excited and itching for more action, yet he knew that first of all his loyalties and desires were that of his master's. He crackled his fists and stretched most unnaturally as if to simulate a subtle boredom but made sure that no one, especially Weil would notice what he considered a stretch of misbehavior. While carefully scanning the area Omega took note of the bloody trails of oil from the encounter earlier with Hellbat Schilt and took the time to take a small chuckle at the ease of it all.

Weil was far too focused on succeeding on his plans to notice any of Omega's antics. To him, this was the time to show humanity what monster they have created with their own hands. His eyes blazed with anger as he longed to set himself free from the insolence of those who have wronged him. No amount of torture would ever amount to the death that had been denied him. Day after day since his exile he used to lament why he could not have simply been put to death. Having an immortal body had its toll since not even he could end his own misery no matter how much he had wished for it at some point early on. In time his mind was filled so much more with thoughts of hatred and inhuman prejudice—the mere thoughts of which would be his sole reason for staying alive if it were not for his body. No one was to be left unpunished; none would be able to resist. Insofar as Resistance however, the warrior that he once viewed as a nuisance was now more than ever a great source of threat to his elaborate schemes. The tyrant whispered as he turned away, clenching his metallic claws as he did so:

"This time, he won't get away..."

* * *

"Siiigmaaaa!"

"Don't you understand, X. As long as humans continue to exist I'll keep—"

The heavily damaged commander fell with a well-placed succession of plasma shots. Despite his hardest efforts to come back, each version of him had degraded more and more. Sigma was down to his final flame, one that X had wasted his life trying to extinguish. Several others that previously fell victim to the maverick's cause rose up, desperately trying to cling on to the last hint of rage each could muster. Their metallic bodies were on the verge of collapse with no sign of coming back.

"No, none of you exist anymore. I've killed...I've slaughtered all of you countless times before!"

A wave of molten limbs flew over his tired shoulder.

"The war is over. The war between us has long been over...why can't you rest already? You've lost...You've lost time and time again!"

Eyes once overwhelmed by regret blazed fully with hatred. None would escape its sight.

"Zero and I have made sure of that and now there is no more point in your existence! You all make me sick...all you dying animals... you have no more reason to fight!"

Uncharacteristic as it was for the warrior to do so he unleashed his mental limits and caused a massive ripple across the multitudes of already defeated enemies. Not a single spark of life was left.

Through his state of consciousness wandering around in cyberspace the warrior had never let go of the guilt he had shouldered through the centuries of fighting. The figures he fought, the comrades he murdered had always come back to haunt him through his memories. Until the warrior learned to forgive himself of his sins the pain was never going to go away. Not even in death.

X had stopped caring about his mistakes centuries ago in Zero's absence. There stood no point groveling over trivial matters. A maverick existed simply to be eliminated. There was no other way of seeing it. The hardened ruler had lived in such a way for the longest time, killing his heart more and more as the years progressed. In a way, forcing ignorance towards the sins of the past numbed his conscience so that his memories failed to haunt him as much as it would have had he left his emotions go out of check. While he believed Zero could do the impossible he was still doubtful of whether his own efforts were truly enough. True as it was that X's conscience was very conflicted, this was one of those times he needed to face himself and move forward as he did when he still was living.

"X, why do you waste your life with these meaningless trifles?"

X's eyes regained their lifeless stance once more and lost all color. His anger had died down and all there was to do was move forward.

"You're dead...You're all dead...Stop getting up and go to rest already..."

"And miss the final fall of humanity? Nonsense, X. All these years I've been struggling to get the world to the state it's in right now and for the first time, I don't even have to do so much as lift a finger! Haha! Your little friend Zero won't survive this time...we both know he doesn't stand a chance in that body...hahahah!"

"No. You're wrong Sigma. Are you really so foolish as to assume that after all we've been through? We've been through odds far greater than this and we've always put an end to your schemes. This is no different...Zero will prevail."

"We'll see soon enough, X...we'll see soon enough..."

Sigma and his helpless band of mavericks retreated for the meantime. It would be a long while before their data would reform enough to fight again.

X willed back his ceremonial robes and leapt through a portal where he sensed Harpuia aimlessly wandering about in his desert of memories. The guardian was still quite exhausted from his earlier battle and had enough scars to prove it. He covered his weary eyes with one hand while the other arm waved around limp and dripping with a black substance. X looked around and found the guardian's shattered helmet which he would hold onto in the meantime. Fortunately only a small squadron of wandering Pantheons had wound up near Harpuia's presence. Seeing as his servant was in no shape to be straining himself, X quickly dispatched the degraded fakes. After a few moments of searching about, X had finally made his presence clear to his loyal follower who was more than glad to see him safe and sound.

"We still have work to do. Come, let's go."

X temporarily cast aside his battlefield of guilt and memories and left nothing but a barren scar on the face of the corrupted sector Sigma and his goons inhabited. _Forgive me, Zero for thinking only of myself when I could have helped you out so much more.

* * *

_

"To think all of this happened in a matter of days", Harpuia faintly muttered.

_In the first place, __**when**__ did I even start talking to myself? All of this meaningless fighting is exhausting. I have to get back to the outside. _

"Master X, I ask you, why have you allowed me to go here in the first place?"

"Why you ask?"

"Yes, why have I been brought here? I realize that while I was here aiding your cause I've let Weil do whatever he pleased in the world beyond."

"That's not true and you know that. Look around you, I'm curious to what you see."

"I don't understand. There's nothing to see here but—"

"Look closer Harpuia."

The guardian had done so. He looked back at his master with clouded eyes, clueless to what exactly he was to be looking at. Clearly the landscape had been utterly barren, without any chance of hope. The light-green flickers of data would once in a while make its presence known but this was nothing more than a characteristic difference between cyber space the material world. The wind had not yet stopped and before he knew it, he had been separated from his master. Surely this was some kind of test—yet he wasn't sure exactly what was being tested.

Harpuia had grown indignant. Though his master stood with him and gave him a sense of security he knew in his heart that his battle was long from over. He had learned a great many lessons on his trip—perhaps he may even still find out more, but he could no longer bear with the thought of the humans bowing to Dr. Weil's twisted will. He may not have been fully recovered from his last battle, but like his earlier battles this was not to be a cause for concern. He clutched his hands which grew slippery from the oil that had since dried in his fingertips.

"Master, I'll be honest. This place greatly _**seemed**_ familiar the moment I stepped in its borders but I bare no memory of anything that's in here."

"It's the very same place I showed Phantom after his lost wandering in this vast dimension."

"What does it mean Master X? What does all this mean? I can't see anything beyond this wind. I've tried using my own abilities but nothing seems to yield."

"For Phantom this "wind" you see was endless darkness. At first, he couldn't see past it either. The same goes for you."

"Master X, Neo Arcadia won't be able to hold out much longer. You have to let me find my way back."

"Only you can do that yourself, Harpuia. Now look, look beyond those pillars wind and remember the buried memories from a century ago."

"A— century ago? What do you mean a century ago? I wasn't even around when—"

Without saying a word, X had vanished. Harpuia took this as an indication that he should be looking harder for the answer.

The guardian of wind had great cause for confusion at this startling revelation. His master was clearly trying to teach him something but he was far too impatient to learn, though he did have good reason to.

It was true that time was running out. It was true that if the guardians were not gathered immediately great danger would ensue. Weil knew of Zero's secret as well and though X was unsure of how much memory Zero did recover, the crucial truth of his body was not something to be risked coming out of a madman's mouth. X only hoped the guardians would unlock their memories and their power in time to face Omega.

* * *

"Uwooooh! I'm growing impatient Phantom! You better tell us quickly, in plain and simple English, what is going on!"

"I agree. Phantom, you better have a good explanation for all this."

Their minds were resolute. No amount of visions or information would convince the two guardians otherwise. The losses had been too high and Phantom understood that to forgive someone who had slaughtered their friends and allies time and time again would be near impossible. The Maverick Wars of the past was irrelevant. The "hero" had proved his status by endangering the humans of Neo Arcadia.

Time was starting to run out and both Fefnir and Leviathan were starting to feel the consequences of being in their state. Now knowing that they were in the small gap between life and death, they grew ever as anxious and uncooperative—neither wanted to know that they were going to die helpless and under the mercy of a madman.

"If we're going to die anyway I'd rather die with my pride as a Neo Arcadian.", the red elf stated as his glow grew gradually dimmer. _Is this really how I'm going to go out? Heh, quite a pity I never got my rematch._

A small glow of light came nearer and nearer. Its faint blue glow soon illuminated the horizon for a split second, revealing X in his robes. His ethereal eyes scanned the flickering elves right before him and saw their wide-eyed expressions, their loss of words, and their stumbling mouths caught in an incoherent jumble. The two shared a close bond as siblings, even going so far as to say in unison,

"I-is it really you Master X?"

X simply nodded and faced Phantom.

"I take it you've taught them how to project their bodies Phantom?"

"Yes, my lord."

Phantom proudly bowed.

"Alright then you two. As you may know we are greatly short on time. In your current state there is no way you will ever be able to fight anything."

"But Master X, we wish to be more useful."

"Yes Master X, let us do what we can."

"Then show me what you've learned."

X's arm did a calm waving motion pointing to the side. For a few brief moments seemingly nothing had happened. Phantom just like always stood with his arms crossed in steady anticipation while X watched the confused elves. The two felt a great pressure on them, but honestly didn't have a clue on what to do. Meeting their master was great and though they now knew the difference between the fake and the real hero, there was one thing they held in common—their inconvenient sense of vagueness.

Fefnir let out a small chuckle, who was followed by Leviathan.

"Stop it Fefnir, we're supposed to be serious here."

She playfully punched her brother in the arm.

"Hahah, alright Levi. But to be serious, what exactly do we have to do?"

Phantom eyed the two of them in a confused manner. How could the two of them laugh in such a situation as this? He looked at his master who was now also starting to laugh. His eyes grew wide. It was the first time he had ever seen his Master give even so much as a chuckle. X let out a refreshed sigh before letting out a brief chuckle and saying,

"Eheh, after all this time I was wondering where my sense of humor went."

"But on to serious matters. Master X, you know that our combined strengths were all insufficient to beat Zero, let alone two of them."

"Especially with that body of his. If what Phantom showed us was true, then Omega should be much more powerful. He doesn't stand a chance!"

"Yeah, there is no way we are going to help him after everything! If anything Omega would be doing us a favor by finishing him off—"

The guardian of fire was cut off with a quick graze of one of Phantom's kunai. Phantom's impatience had broken through his cold façade.

"You ungrateful children! Have you forgotten Weil's intention of repeating the Elf Wars? All this information…all this talk and yet you won't let go of your foolish prides long enough to help someone fighting for a truly good cause? You make me sick with your insolence!"

X felt insulted as well. He understood where their pain came from though, even if they never knew about the guilt Zero carried with him for hundreds of years.

"I trust in Zero. He'll get out of this alive."

The two took a second to contemplate and respectively declared,

"Maybe, but know this. We're only helping him out to stop Weil from repeating the Elf Wars. As soon as that's done I'll be the one to finish him off." _I needed a rematch with Omega anyhow._

"That's right. We mean you no disrespect Master X, but we can't let the extremist who threatened the safety of the humans to get away easily either."

X opened up a portal and swept everyone to Harpuia's sector before their circuits could even recognize the change in the environment.

Before they knew it they were dazed and quite dizzy. The two felt a surge of warmth in their cores and grinned at the tremendous wealth of power they were now being intoxicated with. In one moment, they were fading elves looking at a great blank landscape, the next they looked and felt as if they had been reunited with their original bodies. Though Fefnir wanted to rejoice at this great achievement, he found that he could not, as he found himself trapped between raging pillars of fire. Leviathan found herself encased in ice in the same manner.

X and Phantom eyed the three warriors who stood lost before them: Harpuia wandering in the plains of wind, Fefnir trapped between the great pillars of fire and Leviathan inside the frozen caverns. Confusing and mindless as the event was, the guardians found the way to the answer his master was seeking for. The fury of the elements died down and there laid the guardians. Fefnir, standing proud with both of his launchers in hand, Leviathan, with her head held high and her ice javelin held higher, and of course, Harpuia, still bearing his scars of battle and wearing a warm grin on his face.

The lapse of time to get there was successful; the guardians were now ready for their final strike against Dr. Weil.


	10. The first gate

His entire body was glowing with a white-hot aura. Radiant and exuberant emerald eyes scanned around the horizon trying to look for something to reflect his image. A nearby reflection bouncing off of a seemingly rebuilt office building showed him a glimpse of what he needed to see. Although he could still visibly see the damage that he'd sustained for several hours, he felt…different. He immediately noticed the fact that not only did the shivering in his fingertips cease to be but that he had no longer felt the irritating sting of his internal circuits bleeding. Just to make sure of the situation, he ran a quick self diagnostic.

_Initializing self diagnostic…._

_Internal circuits operating at 310%_

_Wing boosters fully charged_

_Sonic blades at beyond peak efficiency_

_Sensory program fully functional_

_Shields online_

_Combat capability increased by 150%_

"A hundred and fifty? …What's going on with me?"

Easy as it was to dismiss the numbers as a reflection of how malfunctioned his internal diagnostic must have become the guardian could not deny that yes, he did feel much stronger than before. Though his master had bestowed upon him a higher level of power before facing the fake X, his strength seems to have gone even **beyond** that.

"Hard to believe…just exactly what happened."

Part of him wanted to ask, to ponder over why such an invigorating sense of power coursed through his newly rebuilt veins, but he _**knew**_ exactly what had happened. He had found his way through the wind.

To explain what transpired during the test of the guardians one must look back to their origins. A century ago Mega Man X had decided that the only way to stop the Mother Elf's danger was to seal her within his body. Unfortunately the force of the sealing was too great for even X's body to handle and, as a result, his soul was expelled from his body and split into five cyber elves. One of them contained the consciousness and memories of X, and the other four contained fragments of his power. Those four elves were used to make the four guardians. Although the guardians were a great force to be reckoned with, they were incomplete in comparison to the real X that they once were a part of.

There was no use for X to keep holding on to the other bits of power he held onto so in this great time of need, he decided to lend the guardians the strength they needed to effectively aid Zero in taking down Omega. They needed as much as they could get, but first they had to open themselves to receive it.

The guardians each represented a different element X had favoured during his many missions as a maverick hunter, and fragments of the armour systems that he utilized in the same missions. In order for Harpuia to grasp the strength that his master was going to bestow upon him, he had to wander about himself—a literal typhoon had to be overcome for him to absorb all that his master had intended for him to absorb.

* * *

"HAHAHA!Incredible!"

The fire guardian unloaded his launchers' fury onto a nearby building. Phantom had already told them earlier that the damage caused in this particular sector is negligible due to the data rewrite program; there was no need to hold back. The brute strength of the blasts was enough to cause almost if not more than the amount of damage his entire platoon would cause to an entire field in a matter of seconds. Momentarily the "concrete" skin of the buildings would strip away from the intensity of the flames, bringing along with them the liquid metallic skeletons of the same structure. Even when the construction had completely collapsed, flames of molten rock set ablaze the canopy of the sky and lay waste to the peaceful solitude of the block. The warrior retracted his launchers and clenched his fists, while looking at them with the thrilled grin of a three year old that had gotten his presents. He let out a victorious laugh as the buildings crumbled into dust. He simply couldn't **wait** to test out his new-found strength against Zero.

"Oh dear, he's showing off again...Alright, let's see how I did!"

Crystals of frozen mist formed around Leviathan's upraised spear. With a smooth graceful motion the entire block that Fefnir had laid waste to was cooled and frozen to the core. Massive ice formations jutted out of where the buildings had previously been consequently emitted a chill which looked to pierce the sky. The resultant steam created a thick mist which would have blinded even the guardians' powerful sensors had they tried the same tactic before.

Phantom had no need to show them the power that he had been given long before they found their way through the dimension. With crossed arms he looked through the thick wall of fog and shook his head, grinning as he did so.

"Kids"

"Shall we go now? We can't waste any more time", Harpuia calmly stated with a hint of impatience.

The fog was instantaneously cleared the moment Harpuia extended his neck as if to stretch.

X smiled warmly and gazed at the shattered remains of Harpuia's helmet which he held in hand. A light tap on the crimson crystal caused a bright glow that caught everyone's attention. While looking around each of his servants' faces he saw the unfaltering determination reflected off of each guardian's eyes and felt a great sense of confidence and trust towards everyone. Both the master and apprentices nodded as if to recognize each other's presence.

"We'll do our best Master X"

"I know you will"

Harpuia felt the same sensation he felt the first time he stepped into the bounds of cyberspace. A blinding light formed right where he was standing, causing great contours of shadow across the cracks and crevices in his chest-plate and arm guards. Right before Harpuia left his post he saw one last glimpse of his master whispering "Good Luck" with a warm approving smile, Phantom doing the same.

Seconds later, Harpuia found himself not too far away from the portal he used as an entry into cyberspace. The bodies of pantheons and golems were no longer in sight but a small oil puddle showed in its reflection that the guardian was now fully repaired and emitted a light green aura around his body. He picked up his blades but hesitated to ignite them for the time being. With his new found power he was easily able to sense Omega's tremendous energy signature as well as that of the Eight Gentle Judges. He was also able to pinpoint Zero's location whose signal was mixed in with some great waves of Neo Arcadian militia. The thought of helping Zero get through this hurdle crossed the guardian's mind for a second but he knew he had his own agenda to fulfill. In the very worst case scenario, Zero would make it out of there without a scratch.

Meanwhile the other two guardians were now reunited with their suffering bodies in the other world. Repairs weren't fully complete with them but it did not matter since the power they got in return was more than enough for compensation. Each got up and nodded at each other in agreement as they headed towards Weil's location.

* * *

On the other side of the conflict, Weil was preparing to start the next phase of his plan. Omega's defeat was inconceivable to the man but some things had to be done just in case. The preparations for the satellite Ragnarok were nearly complete and within hours the orbital laser would be ready for its launch. The first line of defence was falling behind all too easily just as he expected of the legendary reploid...everything going just as was planned. In either case, the rebuilt Weil Numbers and Omega would be enough of a distraction until the laser was launched.

Dr. Weil had used his status as the self-appointed ruler of Neo Arcadia to immediately put into production a new line of militia called the Variants. Setting up the older Neo Arcadian units for a bloody massacre was nonetheless a clever ploy in order to get rid of the outdated models. Whether they succeeded in eliminating Zero was irrelevant; they would all get trashed eventually. While doing so, he also gathered the remaining elite of Neo Arcadia's military forces, assigning them to a trusted reploid named Kraft. For the time being, Kraft and the Einherjar would be guarding the launch site for Ragnarok, with the order of "kill any intruders in sight" implemented.

While sitting on his throne overlooking what remained of the world, the cyborg quickly noticed that the guardians were no longer in their containment units. It was highly likely that they would be up to no good and what better way to test out his combat skills than to play with them. The core to Ragnarok was now stable and theoretically speaking, his cybernetic enhancements should allow him to merge with it and boost his combat capability.

* * *

With the loss of the front gates, Zero was now easily cleaving his way through wave after wave of militia. Zero was completely resolved in his cause—stop Weil no matter what the cost. The coordinates handed him over by Ceil seemed to be right since he had been fighting a more concentrated number of troops. Every plasma pellet would be either sliced out of the air by his Z-saber or deflected by the shield boomerang which he would periodically roll along the ground to cut a path through the struggling pantheons. Every wave of 30 or so would have a couple of Golems vying for support, but the warrior simply laughed at the pathetic defence and struck each at their weak spots while gracefully dodging every passing projectile. Blurs of red and a show of scattering bullets would dance for a spot on the ground with smoke inevitably starting to accumulate in the process. By the time the smoke had cleared it would be too late—Zero would have already slashed through another wave of enemies.

Two of the four judges stationed at the gate were getting impatient, but held back to maintain their formation. They took no time to transform into their more animalistic personas as they openly showed their gnashing teeth.

"What was Foxtar planning exactly? I'm getting steamed up just waiting for Zero to finally get here! What are you doing standing so close to me Childre? You _know_ that I greatly dislike that **cold air **that always comes out whenever you breathe... "

"Will you be quiet already? Your stupid tail is blocking my view! Dunderhead...As soon as we take care of Zero you're mine! I'll keep beating you til the **sparks** come out of your stupid little head ha!"

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that! I'll turn you into a **smoldering pile of ash** after I'm done with your insolent tongue—"

"Silence!"

The two bickering judges momentarily stopped to notice the other two judges who appeared behind them. Hellbat Schilt looked absolutely furious at the display of what he regarded as utter barbarism. Unfortunately in that regard he seemed to be outnumbered 3 to 1, since his colleague Deathtanz Mantisk was also itching for a fight to fill his boredom.

"Chikachika! **Cool it** Schilt! You and I both know these guys have been bickering long before any of this happened. Besides, if it ever goes out of hand I can test out my new set of scythes! Ha ha ha!"

"You and I both know that we can't afford to be fighting amongst ourselves especially when the enemy is around. By letting these _buffoons_ ramble about their petty little peeves we're already one step closer to losing to Zero."

"Ugh! Don't say that name! I still find it hard to believe I lost to such an outdated model..."

The bat reploid heard someone approaching at a relatively high speed. Several explosions followed the sound of the approaching footsteps as the all too familiar "ping" of bouncing plasma bullets became more and more audible. Without even saying so much as a word Hellbat Schilt transformed into his beastly form only to be followed by Deathtanz Mantisk immediately after. Blazin Flizard and Childre Inarabitta saw this as a great warning of what was to come and momentarily cast aside their differences to carry out their orders. With a loud pounding on the door, the structure finally collapsed after a final round of blaster fire which ricocheted through the room the judges were in. The doorstep was seemingly empty and was corrugated with the shattered debris of the burnt hallways it took to get there. It took around 15 seconds for all the smoke and commotion to clear...and then it was silence.

"I'm going to take a look around..."

"No! Remember our orders. Our separation is _exactly_ what that blasted savage wants."

"Fine..."

Each of the judges stood shoulder to shoulder, looking around to see where the warrior would have gone. A small ripple in a distant doorway caused a stir amongst the judges as they were hungrily eager to settle the score. Each thought that Zero had clumsily broken through his field of stealth and as a result revealed his location. A quick scan of the area proved otherwise. The "ripple" that the judges heard was none other than a pantheon's decapitated head rolling on the floor in a puddle of the same oil it and its brethren used to sustain their internal systems.

The judges cautiously approached the shattered gateway that stood right before them. In it were the first hundred troops that had been stationed in the first few battle lines. The further they ventured into the hallway the greater the sense of an imminent danger approaching them. Immediately of notice to them as they approached the end of the hall was a great big hole on the side of the wall—it appeared to be half the size of Tretista Kelverian.

"Impossible, he can't possibly have taken care of Foxtar's platoon can he?"

"Whatever we do we can't stay here much longer."

Childre Inarabitta stepped close to one of the bodies and noticed at how expertly made the incisions were against the piles of troops that lay dormant on the floor. He sadistically grinned and crushed one of the barely attached pantheon heads under his feet while commenting on how utterly pathetic these troops were. Deathtanz Mantisk and Hellbat Schilt looked to examine the great hole at the side of the wall and in so doing forgot to call the other two judges who were examining the bodies.

"Childre I thought we were told not to separate! Do you have any idea how much your actions will endanger the mission?"

"Stop treating me like a child! Did you forget that I once held my own against Zero?"

"So did I, and look where that took us...honestly, all this waiting is getting me all **fired up**."

Once attention had been called the judges reunited.

"Has he now resorted to cowardice?"

"No, it must be grander than that."

"I'm getting impatient."

"So am I. Are you three really so useless as to forget—"

Hellbat Schilt felt a great stir and immediately called upon his colleagues to go back to the vast room they were originally stationed in. Without question the rest followed. Soon a great rumbling could be felt on the ground as each judge speedily rushed to reach their destination. With an overwhelming amount of noise a Golem burst out of the ground almost directly in front of the judges with Zero clutched onto its back and mangling about its head. The beast had struggled to break free but had fallen victim to the control of one of the cyber elves accompanying Zero. As the Golem reached its physical limits Zero thrust out the saber that he had lodged deep into its brain, causing the colossal mechaniloid to come crashing down to the ground, generating a small but startling tremor. A loud boom resulted from the immediate explosion which stirred the debris in the area. Zero jumped out with his saber ignited and positioned in front of him. Standing before him were the four judges furious and ready to engage in battle.


	11. Eruption

"Master X, do you think they'll do well?"

Phantom noticed a newly rekindled look of hope gleaming from his master's eyes. Blue crystal orbs reflected with a type of light whose source no one knew of. Cloudy solemn eyes welled up with a calm disposition but Phantom could only guess that the tears that started to flow in his master's eyes were tears of great relief. It looked as if a gentle stream was trickling down its peaceful path—not carving its way through but peacefully flowing along the contours of X's century old suffering. He did nothing but watch from above the events taking place: each guardian rushing through where Weil's signal had been detected and Zero surely carving up a storm in the path he was crossing. Phantom did in his own way console his master; he stood by there ever silent but with the impression that his presence was still just as present. A warm smile was still etched onto X's face even though the warrior well knew that the fight was still ongoing. For now, he could finally say that he had done all he could even with the absence of his body and that even though he couldn't fight alongside Zero, his successors would do the job for him.

"Yes, I do believe so."

He made sure to direct each guardian towards Weil's location in the meantime while he organized each of his expertly planned agendas. While Zero had his own mission and his own path to take X wanted to ensure the full success of both sets of missions. Surely Zero would pull through just like he did countless times before but in the case of great danger he would not hesitate to abort his skirmishes and send the guardians to his immediate aid. But in regards to Weil, his plans to launch Ragnarok must not succeed. The tyrant had failed a century ago thanks to X and Zero's combined efforts and though X no longer had his body to help, he wasn't about to let the madman succeed. Just as he had ordered Zero previously to eliminate his shameful copy, X voiced out his sole order to the guardians who were all earnestly rushing to their respective goal. The rest was left to silence as he and Phantom intently watched to see the destiny of mankind and reploids hang in the balance within the fingers of the four heroes.

"Terminate that lunatic Weil! Terminate with extreme prejudice!"

Each guardian grinned at this combination of words their master had sent through their communication systems. They were pleasantly invigorated not only by their great sense of duty they owed to mankind but also by a tiny spark of excitement that sent a jitter down their mechanical spines. Their blood was boiling and anything that got in the way of their mission would be terminated without a second thought. While their previous missions had been full of nothing but anxiety, this new mission that had been assigned directly to them by their revered master gave a clearer outlook on the state of the world.

Fefnir took a second to appreciate the simple pleasure of having something different to fight for. After starting on his way to the signal, X sent some new coordinates to the fiery general.

"Fefnir, I want you to go to these coordinates. I believe you're familiar with the locations?"

"Master X...these are weapons factories. What do want me to do there?"

"I want you to take down the generator in each area and demolish the weapon stores"

Fefnir hesitated at first; his annoyance was clear the very moment he paused. At the moment he could not overlook the fact that without the weapons factories, Neo Arcadia's defence line would be all but useless. He winced at the memory of receiving each report of Zero demolishing different factories and generators in his skirmishes against Neo Arcadia in the past. He could not help but want to disobey but he knew that whatever his master had in planned was for the best.

"Do you accept?"

Fefnir swallowed hard, unloaded his launchers and repeatedly fired straight up into the air while screaming in anger,

"Yes...yes I accept! This plan had better be good Master X because right now, I don't know what to think of it!"

Leviathan who had been trailing slightly behind him had heard of the Master's orders. She couldn't help but slap herself in the forehead at Fefnir's behaviour or rather, misbehaviour. Just as she had done so, the flames that the fire general had fired up into the air had lost their duel against gravity and were plummeting straight towards the ground; directly below was Leviathan glaring at Fefnir with a peeved expression.

"Fefnir you idiot! Your stupidity cost us our cover!"

Leviathan was slightly more accepting with the orders she received. The conversation went as follows:

"Leviathan, do you copy?"

"Yes Master X"

"I want you and Fefnir to separate for now. You two can get more things done at the same time if you do."

"What's do you want me to do Master?"

"I'm sending you the coordinates to the factory where new military units called Variants are being constructed. I want you to sneak into that base and hack into the main system files. Shut down the factory and do it without being detected."

"Understood. I'm heading there now."

Just before she did so she froze Fefnir's projectiles and used the flat side of her javelin to slap Fefnir across the face. She gave a playful wink before teleporting to the coordinates sent to her.

"Oww, what did she have to do that for?"

The fire general proceeded to teleport to the main gate of the weapons factory where he blasted a giant molten hole into the center of the gate. Some trailing eyes of nearby cannons found their way converging into the guardian's general direction. Nearby Golems that were being freshly rearmed with new supplies rushed to the scene before their repairs could be fully complete. In unison each golem unleashed a sweeping laser that scanned across the floor, incinerating everything in its path. The smaller "distraction" units backed away as if by some speck of concern for their own well-being. A great plethora of smoke blacked the vast lifelessness of the factory. Even as the battle was about to begin, the mindless machinery that made up the building continued on with their duties, replacing each broken nozzle or burnt magazine and realigning broken joints of fallen soldiers. The routine clings and clangs of pounding metal could hardly be heard through the intensity of the commotion Fefnir was causing in the main sector. Frustrating as it was for the general to be destroying a source of faith in the war against the mavericks, he was only starting to understand the purpose of this particular order. Without anyone else to fight, there would be no use for having weapons exist in the first place. This was one of the many different locations X had ordered him to destroy.

Various Golems that were famed for having bodies resistant enough to sustain high levels of blunt trauma were getting toppled one after another by the force of Fefnir's bare fists. He only needed the use of one of his launchers to melt holes into each behemoth's overheating generator. Swift fury-filled punches sent each toppling to regain their balance only to shortly find that the molten holes in their chests had grown bigger where Fefnir's fists connected the blows. His previously white unsullied gloves and hard crimson-shaded forearms had become stained by the blood of his previous units; there was no backing down.

"This is too simple...do I even need both my arms for this?"

In order to stop himself from defying his orders Fefnir did his best to clear his thoughts. To destroy these buildings would be to deny a part of himself he had learned to love through the many hardened years of combat. Of course the mission at hand peeved him to no end but he had to convince himself that what he was doing was the right thing.

_Neo Arcadia was doing the right thing by protecting the humans. In order to do that we needed weapons to keep the Resistance soldiers at bay. Without these weapons we are going to be defenceless against them if they choose to attack later on. What the hell Master X? Why do we who used to be at the top ranks here have to cripple our own forces? Stupid Golems...stop firing at me! Yaaaaaaaahh!_

Eventually the older units of mindless machinery laid to rest but all was not yet over. The mission was clearly to demolish the factories. Fefnir took advantage of this order and restored his launcher and slowly raised his arms up into the air while channelling some of his elemental energy. In turn the action summoned a destructive wave of superheated magma from beneath the ground to envelop the entirety of the factory while he walked away to gain a better view. Merciless and all-consuming lava seemed to swallow the sky while spreading their influence over the scorched land. It was impossible for Weil not to notice his presence now and clearly, Fefnir had actually wanted the lunatic to _**know**_ the fury of the guardians he had made the great mistake of going against. A black cloud of smoke enveloped the sky and made it clear to even the blinded citizens of Neo Arcadia that something was going wrong. The way Fefnir saw it, it would take several hours for the heat to finally start to calm down, meaning that there would be no recovering whatever was stored in that particular location. The guardian walked a short distance then looked back to see the destruction he had caused and teleported to unleash more of his unrelenting fury on the rest of the factories assigned. Unfortunately he would have to hold out on this sort of overkill the next time—he noticed the great strain this put to his still-weakened body.

* * *

Leviathan's task was not much simpler than Fefnir's. Whereas Fefnir was able to act like a major distraction to scatter some of Neo Arcadia's defending troops, Leviathan's goal involved a lot more subtlety. Freezing the entire structure would endanger the precious data stored in the central computers and lock the information for use later on. Any small change in the delicate web of temperature control would set off the balance of the temperature locks, alert the guards, and the ensuing firefight very likely damage the precious data link systems and waste the precious time Fefnir would be buying in his berserker-like assault. In other words, there was no room for failure in this particular task and Leviathan very well knew of the fact. Fortunately Phantom was able to uplink the security files directly for ready use. However actually breaching the newly revised intruder detection system was not a task to be overlooked.

_Damn, while Fefnir can go as wild as he wants I'm stuck here in sneak duty. I wish Phantom could help me out..._

She took a small peek behind the safety of an exhaust vent. It would be impossible for her to move inside the vents with her bulky helmet on so there was little choice but to dematerialize the said helmet and her javelin unless it was absolutely necessary to use them. Noting the irony of it all, the water general gave a very light and almost silent chuckle.

_When I said I wanted to let my hair down I didn't think it would be while sneaking around tight vents...or on a mission even!_

In order to mask her presence, a thick cloud of mist covered her body. Not only did this lower her heat signature to negligible levels but it also served to cleanse her armour of the accumulated filth that was surrounding the thin walls of the vents. The only downside of this would be the noticeable amount of condensation that would drip down to her fingertips. At any rate, she was glad that the particular area she had been crawling in still had no detection lasers to hinder her. She pinched her nose, wishing that she could shut down her olfactory sensors and proceed without punishing her acute sense of smell. According to the schematics Phantom sent her, she was close to an hour away from the main generator—this would only be so if she continued without stopping.

Curiously she detected a couple of new Variant guards pacing about the chamber below. Thick black visors in front of their faces made it difficult to see what was behind their masks but this did not hide the eeriness of their devoted silence. Two guards would periodically walk back and forth between their posts without question. One guard was clad in a dark shade of purple and grey, had a sizeable cannon built into its arm as well as jutting out protrusions from its back that looked like it served for flight purposes. The other had a more dull color of cyan and maroon, had two razor-sharp claws in place of arms and overall looked like a more mobile attacker. However these units would actually fare in battle was a mystery still to the general and quite frankly, she wasn't in the mood to be fighting anyone but Zero anyway.

The further she proceeded the more it looked like she was heading deeper and deeper underground. Every winding vent seemed to lead into a vast web of interconnections where each pathway led to another chamber. Had she gone without her map, Leviathan would surely have wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially with the new Variants running amok. The guardian paused for a while and saw that one of the spaces led to a water-cooled generator. Thinking pleasantly of the situation, Leviathan made sure no one was in sight and dove into the rivers below the structure of the building.

_Ah, finally! Enough of those filthy vents! Alright...no time to relax, I have to get moving._

Without wasting any time, Leviathan used her control over the currents to send her straight to the location of the generator and adjusted the settings of the machine in such a way that she would be free to freely summon ice without being detected by the sensors. While there she summoned her Frost Javelin and carefully severed the intricate cables that connected the generator to the central computer. In order to keep the sensors from detecting the loss of the generator's contact, a tiny construct made out of ice was used to emulate the exact temperature and form of the generator's attachment point.

Leviathan wiped her forehead as a sign of relief and then proceeded to make a giant pillar of ice to break through the ceiling. While this activated the gate locks, Leviathan needed not worry. With the gates locked there would be no troops getting in the vault that she was now under. Without the generator supplying power to the warning sensors, she was now able to off the subtlety and proceed with her time constraints considered. As she climbed inside to the vault the central computer was in, she found something greatly of notice. She knew that there was no room for mistakes in this type of mission, so she decided to call upon her Master X for help.

"Master X, I'm at the central computer now. I managed to get by here undetected but the central computer looks a lot different than it did when I last examined it. Weil must have made some major modifications because I don't recognize this type of construct at all."

"Great job Leviathan"

The sound of this praise produced a small blush on the maiden's fair cheeks.

"There should be a light grey panel to the right of the console. Do you see it?"

"Yes, now what do I do with it?"

"I need you to make a small indentation one inch to the top right corner of it. As soon as you do so you will see two different wires: a black one with pulsating white stripes and a glowing neon one."

Leviathan did so and carefully pried open the panel to the nearest tenth of an inch X had dictated.

"Done."

"Good, now make sure to make a tiny incision on the black one."

_Of course! This must be the override cable. Sneaky move Weil, switching the wire types and hiding the emergency cable lock right next to the override chipset..._

Leviathan made her small incision on the cable, held it in place, and used her finger to move it slightly to the side enough for her to see the grid behind it. A combination of taps and scratches made it so that the screen in the control panel was now active and ready for use.

"Thanks for the help Master X"

She took the silence as her master's acknowledgement and silently went on her way to uncover the schematics of the new units.

_Interesting work you have here Weil. Too bad I'm gonna have to get rid of it all. Hee hee..._

The legions of Variants waiting outside were busy pounding at the enormous gateway. Each mechanized motion did little other than dent the tough alloys that made up the gate although slowly they were starting to gain some ground. Five guards pounded using their shoulders and charged in unison but to no avail, the gate was holding up exactly as it was originally supposed to. Slightly noticeable were small droplets of condensation gathering around the tightly sealed corners of the entryway. At the moment, the Variants were far too busy to notice this small detail.

"Hee hee, now it's time for the show!"

A shattering blow tore the gate into several large pieces. The giant ice spike that protruded from it froze all but 1 of the guards solid. The one remaining Variant looked through the structure to find the guardian standing at the base of it. The spike shattered but before any shards could land on the ground, Leviathan had already stabbed her trusty weapon deep into the guard's core. With another quick swipe the guard's upper body had been separated from its base. While hacking away at the main construction files Leviathan took note of each and every weakness in structural integrity for the new units. It was surprising how well-built the units were as a whole. Surely they were a lot more durable than the Pantheon units and judging by their programming, they were going to be a lot more resilient, this was evident by the amount of brute force Leviathan had to resort to just to dismember that single guard. She padded her right arm which had started to show the wear that had yet to be repaired. The rest of the guards stationed would have to be taken care of and there was other work to do. Now Weil knew of her presence as well so there was no point in staying subtle.

_Okay, I have to finish with this area before my boots get any dustier. Let's do this!_


	12. Anticipation

A quick blur of crimson sent the weakening green judge to his knees. It was hard to believe that the "maverick" could possibly have grown so much stronger than the last time they had met. At first, all four of the judges seemed to get the upper hand. They all seemed to be handling the matter well and according to Foxtar's tactical plans, unfortunately they were still too ill prepared for what was about to take place.

The crimson warrior who had destroyed them not too long ago was merely dodging each of their angered blows. Nothing was more humiliating than having an opponent who not only could best you within the blink of an eye, but also looked as if he was uninterested while doing it. Zero had no intention of dealing with the fools for any longer. This mess had to end fast.

"Damn it...he's too fast!"

Without anything left to defend himself with the wearied mantis used both of his scratched blades to cover the rest of his body. He was helpless, wishing that somehow his allies wouldn't leave him to so cruel a fate. Death had become a chore and he would rather not have it again; come to think of it, none of them would.

"Stick close and strike at the right moment!", the bat reploid nearly shouted as he sent miniature bat units to distract the crimson hero. He knew this would be nothing more than a momentary distraction to the fiend but he had to buy enough time for everyone to set up their positions.

"Hiiyahh!"

While struck in a momentary daze, Zero found himself barely dodging two massive sickles almost twice his size. The blur of the sharpened blades only did so much as graze the hero's shoulder, but he knew he couldn't afford such a close call. Standing quite vulnerably was the mantis himself who looked as if he wished for his own rest. The rest of the judges were busy sending out their formidable attacks but unbeknownst to them, Zero had already thought of a way to take them down. The frail and scratched frame of the dying judge illuminated his deep gashes and he couldn't help but wince with every step that he took. He knew he wouldn't last much longer and the least he could do was at least give it his all before he left. As soon as his sickles reattached to his arm the judge recklessly lunged forward to catch the busy warrior.

"Mantisk what are you doing? Right now we're slowly gaining ground! We must keep our distance!"

Deathtanz Mantisk merely had to give his colleagues a blank stare back. Hellbat Schilt immediately understood and ordered both the other judges to concentrate their fire on Zero who was still busy dealing with the bat units sent earlier.

The mantis' legs had started to fumble on their way, as he had been the most damaged out of all the judges. Although he was the expert on close combat out of the four, he was at a clear disadvantage even with the support of his fellow colleagues. Zero simply dodged each projectile as if he had already predicted where they were headed. Even with the larger sickles Mantisk would lash out, doing so would only leave him open for the hero's ranged weapons—his deeply burnt puncture holes would show the same. Visible to him and everyone else was the unfortunate event of his shields finally being down. Without anything left to protect his fragile body, there was nothing else to lose—it was all or nothing. Mantisk summoned the rest of what was left of him in what would otherwise be seen as a noble way to die. As soon as he gave the signal, the firing had increased tremendously. He no longer cared about the limbs he would slowly be losing as he mercilessly pushed himself to stab and slash at the hero who was clearly not amused. A simple motion would cause him to lose his legs before he could even blink his eyes. Another split second would make him wish he hadn't made that wrong step before one of his arms was were painfully dislodged with the heat of the Z-saber and the other left barely able to twitch. Zero took this quick opportunity to grab the mantis' torn off arm and kick him into the line of fire, where the mantis' body bellowed with miniature explosions both from his own damage and the projectiles his own teammates were hurdling in his direction. The oil that was violently gushing out of his body had caught the attention of one of Flizzard's fireballs and as the mantis both felt the burning sensation of the plasma eating through his hide, he couldn't help but feel somehow thankful to the "maverick" for finally ending his toil. As the mantis' body limped on the floor both burned, and frozen he managed to get a small glimpse of what he once was before Weil corrupted him. Before completely losing himself to his programming again, he wished for Zero to finally end everything, to which Zero complied with a quick slash that sent the mantis' detached head hurdling towards Schilt's direction. Needless to say the bat was infuriated.

The time for waiting was finished. Zero found himself almost surrounded by the multitudes of ice blades, fireballs and lightning that he had to gracefully slice out of the air to protect him. Based on his quick observations, the two slower judges seemed to have a great sense of animosity towards one another—now was the time to take advantage of that.

"What? Not even a single one can hit him? This is ridiculous!"

Blazin Flizzard was starting to lose his usually calm demeanour. Deathtanz Mantisk's decision to charge blindly at the foe may have been seen as a death wish, but the lizard knew that going up close would definitely have been a much more effective way to hit Zero. Wishing to break from his seemingly ineffective attack pattern, Flizzard undocked his large collar and hurled it onto Zero, who seemed to be too busy to notice. While doing so, he signalled for Schilt and Childre to concentrate some more fire on his general area as if to mask his assault. The two seemed too caught up by their fury to respond so he saw no more reason to hesitate.

"Eeeyaaah!"

The lizard first tried to strike Zero with his tail but missed only to find the saber slashing away at it until it was detached. This of course would merely be a trivial matter since he could grow it back but at the moment his entire body was coated in a thick layer of burning plasma in order to give the warning that the hero should not get too close. The rest of the judges had had enough and mindlessly charged in for a closer distance. At this, Flizzard felt a small shard of relief only for this to be quickly discarded at the sight of his rapidly weakening shields.

_D-damn! 73% of my shields are down! I won't last very long and my plasma can only keep my distance for so long before they run out...are we all going to go out like this?_

As soon as all three judges were within range, they all saw something very disconcerting—Zero playfully smirking with a murderous look in his eye.

"It's a trap! Quick back away before he—"

Blazin Flizard grew wide eyed and felt an acute pain at the centre of his chest. There a charged recoil rod lodged itself which not only took apart the last of his remaining shields but also struck him with enough force to send him flying near Childre Inarabitta's direction. Before he could even find himself landing painfully on the ground, Zero had already batted him onto Childre Inarabitta himself. This caused the rabbit to lose hold of his footing and momentarily get crushed by the lizard's weight. Under normal circumstance this would be nothing more than an easy nuisance however the lizard's body was still coated in the plasma he used to shield himself. Hellbat Schilt used his tremendous speed to cast an illusion on Zero who had wandered straight into the gate as if to ignore them.

"Come back here you coward!"

Blazin Flizzard could hardly walk let alone move at all at the damage he had undergone. Unfortunate as the event was, he found himself breathing his last breath while being sliced into half by one of Childre Inarabitta's ice blades.

_Oh the irony of it all_

The resulting explosion drained just about the entirety of the judge's remaining shields and as a result, Childre Inarabitta himself was in no position to fight.

_Initializing self diagnostic..._

_Ice generators overheating..._

_Shields operating under backup power...will shut down in 3...2...1...offline_

_Vision receptors losing contact with main generator_

_Cannot initiate contact with right leg unit. Scans are inconclusive. _

_Initiating self-repair nanobots_

"DAMN IT! ZEROOO!"

"You fool! Don't you dare pull the same stunt Mantisk did! You'll put us both in danger!"

"Why does it matter now anyway? I'm as good as dead."

"True as that may be we can't simply charge in like savage beasts. See what has happened to Mantisk and Flizzard due to their recklessness."

"It doesn't matter now Schilt, Dr. Weil will have our heads even if we do survive this."

Hellbat Schilt recalled the brutal punishment he had received from Omega just moments after he woke up.

"Do what you must Childre...do what you must..."

"Well, aren't you coming?"

"Let's go"

Schilt used both of his wings to carry Childre. Although he didn't mind the weight of the compact reploid, the chill that was constantly being generated in his body was most...uncomfortable.

They were approaching the gate when they noticed that the gate had almost been torn through by Zero's infamous blade. It appeared as if a simple lunge could very well set the whole thing to burst. There was no time to wonder if Zero had noticed them or not for most certainly the reploid would.

"This is where I drop you off...now, go!"

Hellbat Schilt opened his wings and tossed Childre Inarabitta downwards. As he did so he wasted no time and dove head first as well while charging himself with electrical energy. Soon as Childre Inarabitta landed he would unleash the charged lightning from his horns. Moisture was starting to build from the collected mist around the rabbit's body. Though his generators were barely out of the overheating zone, he forced himself to go into overdrive, causing his entire body to be covered in ice and form into a giant spearhead.

For a moment, the plan worked. Zero looked as if he had been struck unawares and had been directly hit by the judge's attack. Three rapid successions of lightning blasted him out of his place and sent him back towards the gate. One arm was clutching onto the other; the other arm had clumsily let go of the Z-saber.

_Haha! We finally got him!_

As Childre broke free from his ice casing, Zero's armour changed color. The blood red hue that made up the majority of his garb shifted into a brighter shade of orange. Childre recognized the change and desperately tried to send some missiles to reach the hero before anything could be done. Zero finally raised his head and picked up the saber he had dropped. The ignition of the saber sent fear to the weakened judge's eyes—this was similar to the way he died the first time around. The last thing his optical sensors would notice is the flame covered dual sabers that Zero ignited which would cleave through his frozen defence and force his generators to go into overdrive. The resulting event would be taken advantage of by the hero, who had spotted the stationary being that was shooting the annoying bursts of lightning from above. Zero's armor shifted into a lighter shade of blue this time and with a swipe of a blade sent a giant ice blade the shape of his own saber to freeze the judge into the same shape. Using the two recoil rods that he now unleashed, Zero sent the frozen judge into the bat judge who had barely dodged the hit. Landing from the height shattered the body of Childre Inarabitta and caused his core to detonate. The light resulting from the explosion was enough to blind Hellbat Schilt and force him to retreat up higher. This had all been part of the plan however, as Zero knew that the complex would not be able to sustain the damage of having the three judges' nuclear cores detonate. The ceiling was ready to fall apart. All it took were a few charged shots courtesy of Zero's buster shotgun to finally cause the ceiling to cave in on the judge. The impact from the fall as well as the weight of the surrounding rocks was enough to take nearly half of Hellbat Schilt's shielding.

"U-urrghhh. What in blasted hell just happened?"

Looking up, he saw Zero cleave his way through the gates then leave shortly afterwards. The damage was hardly worth anything to be upset about but the trauma of not only failing the mission but also losing all three of his colleagues as well as his entire unit was too much for the judge to fathom. Only death would await him now if they found him alive. His concentration had greatly dropped and was not enough to sustain his form. He knew that unless he was able to bring down Zero, his life would be on the line and the cruel beating he had received from Omega would only seem like a light punch compared to what would happen. With heavily clouded eyes he reverted back to his more humanoid form, and shamefully walked towards the gate's entrance.

* * *

"Foxtar, report!"

"I have unfortunate news Lord Weil. Not only has the first gate fallen but it seems as though all four of the judges have been taken apart as well. The entire complex has collapsed and our sensors have detected Zero's presence approaching Omega's location."

"Deal with this problem! The first four judges have proved themselves as useless but you must not do the same! Take care of that blasted maverick before he gets any closer!"

"Very well Lord Weil."

"That is all."

Weil looked absolutely intrigued by all the commotion that was going on. Four massive screens showed images of each of the heroes struggling to cripple the very foundations of Neo Arcadia. Though he felt that Omega would be more than enough for Zero, especially while being infused with the Dark Elf, the thrill of seeing what he called "degenerate copies of X" struggling to make a change was all too amusing. The time for sitting around was over however and it was time to start pulling the strings. Weil activated a communications module and broadcast the following message to Neo Arcadia:

"Citizens of Neo Arcadia, it brings me great sadness to not only witness the death of our great ruler Master X but also to see that our own sworn protectors, the guardians have gone insane as well."

He pushed a series of keys which broadcast the guardians who were causing some chaos with the weapon production lines.

"Here we see the once great leaders Fighting Fefnir and Fairy Leviathan now destroying their own troops as if to protest my just rule. Even as I speak, their leader General Harpuia is on his way to try to assassinate me. As much as it pains me, they must no longer be allowed to live and I will personally make sure that such a thing will happen. Glory to the walls of Neo Arcadia!"

The amount of confusion on the streets caused the oblivious citizens to pause their activities in unison. Whatever was going on would definitely put all their lives in danger.

"I can't believe all of this is happening? Why is the Resistance doing this to us?"

"What's going to happen to my kids now that we can't even trust anyone?"

"That Dr. Weil is definitely doing the right thing. I hope he takes care of those mavericks."

"The guardians turned their backs on us? What happened?"

Weil was most pleased with the reaction within the citizens. It gave an indication that there would be little resistance amongst them in the coming years of his rule. Using a communications device, he voiced out his orders to the troops stationed at each of the Neo Arcadian bases.

"Fefnir and Leviathan must not be allowed to cause any more casualties with the production lines. Send out Hell the Giant to take care of Fefnir and a couple of our prototype Carnage Force 0's to take care of Leviathan. Leave Harpuia to me."

One of the screens showed Harpuia dashing forwards towards Weil's actual location and as a result, his own excitement was starting to build up. He may not have failed to eliminate X and Zero a century past but now that X's power was split it would be much easier to ambush each of them one by one...starting with Harpuia.

_Heh. Heh. Heh. Come close little Harpy...and I'll cut off those pretty wings of yours..._

Weil accessed a machine that revealed the progress of Ragnarok's completion. Everything was falling into place now that the core was complete. All there was left to do now was simply wait.

Weil calmly tapped his bored fingers onto the nearby console as Harpuia's signal grew closer and closer to that of his own. He didn't bother wasting any troops to guard him since he had wanted the guardian to find him alone. A few of his beautiful new units couldn't be wasted meddling with his plans. Besides, the new prototypes were already proving to be a setback to the other two guardians. Still, the need for a bit of anticipation dawned upon Weil and so he secured the toughest gates to surround his lair. Fittingly enough, he was seated near the top of Ragnarok's structure where the seemingly unending pitfall would put enough of a chase for the hero.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Weil fused his body with Ragnarok's core which in turn caused all surrounding lights to dim and eventually black out. The light emitted by his glass tube of a helmet sent an eerie glow into the pitch black room as he laid waiting. It would only be a few seconds...only a few moments before Harpuia would get there and he would get to mess around with his new toy.

Weil waited with great anticipation and felt the rush of excitement for the first time in years. The thick gates that stood before him shattered and momentarily landed on the floor which in turn caused the light from the outside to pierce through the glimmering darkness. Harpuia stood before him, rage in his eyes and clutching onto blades still unlit. A great wind was now bursting through the massive room—one that would rip apart at everything in came into contact with.


	13. Burning descent

The madman's eyes glowed with intense exhilaration.

"It's about time you got here fool!"

Harpuia could hardly contain the anxiety that bellowed at his chest. He cringed for a second before finally stepping forwards. Although his breach caused light to flow freely into the room, there was something about that ominous orange glow which came from Weil's helmet that caused the guardian to hesitate for a second.

"Look at you cowering in fear! You're making this too easy."

The man's maniacal laughter rung constantly through Harpuia's ears, at this moment he could no longer contain himself. Before him stood the floating figure of Dr. Weil who appeared to have fused with the core of the machine. Hidden in a mask of pure hatred the madman's sly frame appeared to be much larger than it had been previously. Save for his head which itself was encased inside a glowing glass cone, the doctor hardly looked anything remotely close to human—not like he looked like that before. His usually cloaked body had now appeared to be shrouded in a thick encasement of white and gold armour pieces and presumably tough shielding ornately decorated with the tyrant's own black flowing cloak.

Weil knew that the core was now fully stable to support the rest of the satellite and that by merging with it his own power over illusions would only be boosted. The dim lights reflected off of the panels in the madman's frame, revealing a less than favourable position for the reploid. Despite the fact that he had been nothing but a scheming maniac, Dr. Weil's current appearance looked closer to a kind of elevated ruler more than anything else. Harpuia scoffed at everything the doctor represented and ignored the possibility of Weil's "humanity" still remaining. He never thought the day where he would even think about slaying a human would ever come, yet the being that stood before him made him forget about the repercussions. He gripped his blades tighter to find some sort of containment for all the anger he had suppressed up until that point.

"Don't let him get to you Harpuia. Stand firm. You know what to do."

As these words came through the communications piece of his helmet, Harpuia felt relieved. While the guardian muttered a quick thank you to his master, Weil couldn't help but continue his chain of taunts.

"Are you now muttering to yourself maverick? You're starting to waste my time now...be gone!"

The culmination of that sentence caused the entire structure to rumble. As quick as the eye could see, huge boulders were produced from beneath the ground Harpuia had been stepping on. Their rattling sounded like a cry, as if the ground begged for its torture to stop. He didn't want to lose out on whatever the doctor was planning either. As such, one quick peer on the outside of Ragnarok would show that threatening storm clouds and deadly tornadoes had now been ravaging the satellite and what remained of its builders.

_Where are these meteors coming from?_

Not wanting to waste his breath Harpuia dashed towards his seemingly stationary foe, igniting his blades instantaneously but only managing to miss by a few inches. His blade had only struck through a meteor that Weil had used to guard himself with.

"How...how did you?"

"Dodge your attack? You're far too predictable unfortunately."

"Silence!"

Missiles were unleashed by the guardian who was now more aware of the danger he had been facing. Shortly before they could reach their target, the large boulder-like structures formed a spiralling wall to protect Weil. A quick hand motion sent the boulders hurdling towards Harpuia who proceeded to slice the stones out of the air whilst summoning a miniature tornado to guard him. The meteors were arbitrarily sucked into the vortex the guardian had generated; for the moment, it seemed as if all had been under his control. Harpuia sent the boulders crashing up into the canopy in a repeated motion until several large openings at different positions were created. He would then proceed to call on several storm clouds to unleash a constant stream of lightning bolts where those holes had been made, creating an electric trap which resembled a cage. As the debris fell, Harpuia's control over the wind allowed him to propel the torn bits of shrapnel, loose metal and shattered rock hurdling towards the wide-eyed doctor who playfully smirked through his aged facade and laughed as the guardian saw that this tactic had been useless. Once more the madman proceeded to taunt the angered guardian.

"You coward! Are you preparing to run away already?"

Harpuia disregarded this remark and took advantage of the doctor's vulnerable position. Again he approached him and sent a flurry of slices, kicks and jabs, all of which was dodged by the doctor who simply vanished and then reappeared elsewhere. Strangely enough, Harpuia felt small stings whenever he attacked Weil. The ruler was quick to retaliate by sending out blue energy spheres that would scatter wildly around the structure of the room. As he did so the bolts trailed around Harpuia who desperately tried to dodge the projectiles—he would be hit indefinitely. Cornered, his grip tightened around his blades while he tried to swat away the incoming bolts and the flurry of boulders Weil would throw at him.

"Stop screwing around!"

After a while, Harpuia noticed the small changes in the surrounding area whenever the doctor moved about. His motions were so quick that even to the guardian's heightened senses he appeared to be phasing in and out of existence. Eventually he was able to predict the places where he would reappear. The next time the doctor phased out, Harpuia sent a hurricane of energy waves after him which the doctor would only barely escape. A single flinch of the doctor's motion was enough for Harpuia to go up close to him and using both of his sonic blades in unison, carve through a portion of the doctor's shields. Chances were scarce that he would get a chance as good as this so the guardian put all of his strength into the thrust. It was as if he was calling out to a long lost ability that he never knew, for the duality of his blades had somehow changed into a bluish-green hue and periodically leaked out sparks of electricity. Soon as the first blow was landed, he proceeded to repeatedly slash and tear at Weil's tortured frame. The repeated motions of his furious attacks created vortexes of lightning which would tear at the surroundings and quite certainly the doctor's body. It mattered little that Weil's own attacks were now tearing through the guardian's defences; the guardian hardly noticed this as he momentarily lost himself in frustration.

Harpuia saw the wearied look of concern in Weil's eyes and felt a great degree of satisfaction. However, this wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to give the doctor this light of a punishment while the rest of his body was still intact. The guardian angrily stepped at Weil's torn body while staring him straight in the eyes. One of his blades was still stabbed firmly where the doctor's heart would have been while the other holstered his blade. An open palm would slowly close and as he did so, the canopy above them slowly tore away leading to an opening which revealed that they were at the eye of the storm above. His emerald eyes now glowing through the dimness of the room, Harpuia sent various triads of lightning bolts to tear away at what remained of the doctor then picked up his other blade. Shards of the doctor's orange helmet now littered the floor as the fluid it contained intermingled with the tyrant's own blood. In his face was a look of satisfaction but the presumably dead face remained staring at him. The doctor seemed to have gone down, but a shard of doubt still gnawed at Harpuia's electronic brain.

"Master X, mission complete...Master X? Master X are you there?"

No response came from the guardian's helmet save for a few blurred words too indistinguishable due to the static. He started to get anxious.

"Ha ha! This is starting to get fun Harpuia! Come now, why don't you _really_ show me your strength!"

The guardian scanned the integrity of his foe's shielding, and found that his enemy was still very much breathing.

_What the? That attack could have sent even Zero into critical condition had he been struck..._

For a moment, it seemed his eyes deceived him. In front of him lay Dr. Weil whose body was in clear disrepair and yet further into the distance was another figure who resembled him. This figure was impatiently eyeing him from a safe distance while lightly tapping his fingers into his slowly reforming glass helmet as if he had been quite amused. Harpuia once again looked at the figure of Weil that was right before him and saw the critically damaged cyborg fade away into nothing as if it had never been there. All that remained in the spot were torn and ravaged panels of metal and shrapnel which littered the floors before him. The storms still continued however and the swirling debris eventually blocked the combatants from their locked eyes. Their voices were now the only indication of their fading existence.

"Too easily toyed with… Did you really think I would ever leave myself to be so carelessly hit? Is this what you call your strength? Surely X and that weakened fake 'Zero' were far more capable of harming me!"

He then gave a distinctive smirk that sent chills down the guardian's spinal circuitry.

Harpuia cringed in pain. The diagnostic scans ringing in his ears gave him no comfort as his clouded vision revealed the lack of tangible damage he had done to the doctor.

_Warning. Warning. _

_Shield integrity 67% compromised. Entering recharge mode._

_Initializing emergency core lockdown. Storing excess energy._

Noises chanted again and again in the guardian's ears until he could no longer take it. Despite his own trouble he wondered what had become of his siblings, and to a far smaller extent, Zero.

The guardian sought to find some cover while his internal systems repaired itself. Although it was entirely possible for him to continue fighting, he had to rethink his options. Besides that, he realized that he was lucky enough to survive the earlier barrage.

_What was I thinking, charging in blindly like that? The next time, I likely won't be as fortunate. _

He listened through the static of the electric cage he had built around the room and his expression turned wide-eyed. Aside from the screams of lightning and the sweeping vortexes of wind, stone and metal, there was no sound. His sensors had become too scrambled to see past this but he knew that it would be unwise to lower this cage. In this way Weil not be able to take advantage of his speed without risking the compromise of his fading shields.

_Where is he? I can't see him anywhere! Bastard…_

He coughed repeatedly into his hand and noticed that it had become coated in oil.

_Great, this is exactly what I need right now. Another setback._

The lights in Weil's armour had shorted out in the earlier ordeal, making it much harder for him to be spotted in the tempest which continued to tear away at the room. Perhaps this was the doctor's plan, seeing as he was surely somewhere repairing his wounds.

Harpuia had to conserve his energy and thus deactivated his sonic blades. He had chosen to hide behind one of the collapsed pillars at the far end of the room. The location was obvious, but it was also one of the most heavily guarded places in the electric gridlock he chose to cover the room. Weil could have been anywhere which made Harpuia feel slightly concerned, but at the moment, he had to wait until his defences were fit enough to fight with.

_Energy shielding 98% complete._

_Rerouting power supply to main reactor. _

_Combat systems online._

_Miscellaneous functions reactivated._

The silence had only lasted for a minute at most, but the gnawing paranoia felt like an eternity. The guardian of wind had no clue of where the madman was. The scattering noise had all but jammed his acute senses. Panicking was not like him, but the situation called for it. He was no closer to death now than he was at the hands of Zero but it was here that he seriously questioned whether he would live or not. He took at deep breath and rested.

The cage he had made served to be quite unwise. It may have greatly hindered the doctor 's movements but at this point, it served as a nuisance to Harpuia as well. After some slight hesitation the guardian banished the storm he had summoned and anticipated any sort of attack. What he found was far less than favourable. There was nothing to be seen anywhere in the battle-scarred area. The damage was surely immense, but the doctor was nowhere to be found. Harpuia's sensors rang with a critical shriek.

_Immense energy signature detected. Rerouting navigation system to location._

Harpuia acted accordingly and followed the signal to wherever it led. He hoped that the rampaging tempest he had caused would make the satellite inoperable as that was his mission. Unbeknownst to him, his attacks would only barely scratch the surface of the shuttle since there were still several areas he had not explored. The areas that he did explore however were sabotaged beyond recognition. He hoped this would be enough. He didn't possess the same intelligence as Leviathan when it came to machines, or the same destructive capacity as Fefnir but his master had sent him here for a reason, and he was not about to let him down. What the other two guardians lacked in terms of speed, the emerald guardian made up for tenfold.

In his travel he found corridors all leading to different sections of the satellite. Areas barely sunken in a mix of molten metal, hallways littered with crowds of cannon fodder that only served as a momentary setback, and, much to the guardian's great displeasure, areas submerged in water. Traversing through these heavily guarded areas would eventually lead him to the location of the pulsing signal. He had to be quick in finding this before Weil could fully reach his repairs. With the sheer amount of resources in this place it wouldn't be inconceivable for Weil to be fully repaired by the time Harpuia found him.

After efficiently chasing after the signal, Harpuia later found himself in the presence of the madman. The doctor was now showing visible signs of fatigue, and no longer appeared to be in the form he had just fought earlier. A faint laugh followed by coughing from the madman caused Harpuia to unsheathe his blades once more. The signal was coming from Weil, it couldn't have been anywhere else. After a short exchange of coughing and laughing from the doctor, he gave a satisfied smirk towards the guardian.

"What are you planning?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough! Do you really think I'd tell you here and spoil the surprise?"

"What?"

Harpuia felt the ground begin to shake and rumble about while the doctor continued on with his maniacal laughing.

"There's nothing you can do now! You're too late now you insignificant cur!"

A switch was flipped which revealed the many locations outside of the satellite.

"Ragnarok has risen! The judgment day will soon be upon us!"

Harpuia did not feel the need to waste time. If he could deactivate the switch Weil had just pulled perhaps he could stop the satellite from launching altogether. He dashed towards the console only to be blocked by a gigantic white arm which sent him flying across the room. Weil had fused with the core once more.

"I can't let you do that. Why don't we take this somewhere more…fitting…"

Before the guardian could recover from the attack the doctor unleashed an onslaught of blue energy orbs twirling around the guardian before ultimately grabbing onto his face.

"You see the difference between us now? You? A protector of humans? How pathetic! How can you possibly hope to stop me in your state?"

Harpuia managed to talk despite the tremendous force crushing his face and the torrent of bolts tearing at his body.

"T-that may be so…but as long as you threaten the humans of this world…I will never forgive you!"

The guardian gripped at the arm that tried to tear away at his face and sent a face shattering kick at the chest of the madman. His blades were now ignited and though he wasn't able to see, he relied on his other senses to cleave out the crushing arm off his face. Bits of oil splattered onto the doctor's damaged armour while Harpuia wiped his face clean of any obstructions. His green helmet had cracked partially open, revealing messy tufts of brown hair nearly blocking his sight. His green eyes burned with hatred and his expression became terrifyingly fierce as he prepared to properly strike. The signature thrusters mounted on his helmet had all but snapped off but they would have been too damaged to function in any case.

Angered, the doctor managed to grab onto the guardian's face once more, this time charging outside of the control room at a tremendous speed and onto the outside corridors. The guardian's body was repeatedly smeared and smashed across the walls while he retaliated and slashed away at whatever he could reach, screaming as he did so.

The doctor repeatedly smashed the guardian's head through several walls, feeling droplets of oil leaking out from the source. His white armour was now tainted with black oil and his remaining arm had been scratched, sparking, and covered with a warm black fluid. After sending the guardian crashing through several gates and walls, the resistance seemed to be over. Harpuia's blades deactivated as his arms dangled limp. The madman knew he was running out of time before his fusion with the core was permanent and so rushed towards the nearest shutter leading to the outside.

A heavy shutter opened after some tremendous effort from Weil. The satellite was now breaking through the atmosphere, and the heat caused Weil's black garments to burn away. While laughing, the doctor tossed out the unconscious guardian into the atmosphere. Weil knew what an extremely close call it was for him to still be surviving. This victory would only prove to be temporary, as he would inevitably fall in the hands of the crimson warrior Zero. As soon as he was sure the body had been dealt with he separated from Ragnarok's core, noticing that it was now much more difficult to do so. Harpuia's body glowed red-hot as it approached the Earth's atmosphere. The battle may have been lost, but he still had his purpose. His hands gripped his blades by reflex as he hurdled back into the Earth.

A faint concerned voice rang through Harpuia's communications system.

"Harpuia, Harpuia! What's going on? Respond! Respond!"

The sounds were greatly muffled by the friction of the crashing body. Ragnarok was now in orbit causing X to momentarily lose his resolve.

_They'll make it through. They have to. _

Back in their respective locations, Fefnir and Leviathan had dispatched the special units Weil had sent towards them. Both were visibly exhausted and could no longer fight for much longer. They were quite glad their sensors could no longer detect any signs of movement in their vicinity. Whether their sensors had become too damaged was of little concern; they simply needed the rest.

Leviathan had valiantly frozen the weak spots of the giant floating mechaniloid that went after her, eventually freezing open the control console to the core and literally hacking away at it with her ice javelin. As soon as the defensive alloys were taken care of she took advantage of the opportunity and used the golem to tear away at the surrounding swarms of Variants whose bodies were starting to thaw. The golem was then quickly disposed of after its purpose had been served.

Fefnir's ordeal was much more brutal. Exchanging blows with the giant machine would have been nothing short of trivial if he had been at peak condition. His still damaged state became a cause for concern much later on however. As usual, he would lose his temper and charge at the goliath with a tremendous force. The goliath would throw another energy charged arm thrust before Fefnir caught it, ripped it off, and repeatedly rammed it at the goliath's own core. Size didn't matter to him. The fact that the goliath towered stories above him proved to only be a minor setback as he blew off the giant's legs with glee.

Both guardians would allow themselves time to heal their wounds before confidently reporting:

"Master X, Mission Complete."


	14. Cloudless Skies

Half a day had passed since Harpuia's signal was lost. While Fefnir and Leviathan frantically tried to secure the next assigned area, more pouring waves of enemies cornered them back to back. Each was at their wits end, long driven past their bodies' limits. Loud thumps of marching steps grew ever so menacing as the legions of approaching fodder set the wounded horizon with oceans of red glowing eyes. Surprised was the general of fire at the turn of events that had taken place. Though he knew for a fact that even in his weakened state he could easily crush a Pantheon's head between his fingers, applying the same analogy to hundreds of them would not be as easy a task.

"Remind me again why we barged in the main defenses?"

For a short moment, the high noonday sun reflected off of the ice maiden's helmet, temporarily blinding her and causing her to raise a hand to cover the shining rays. She wondered why the army surrounding them had not yet begun to fire. Her other hand grasped firmly onto her halberd, ready to strike as soon as she got the signal while Fefnir made sure to do the same with his steadily aimed launchers. Surprisingly he was being rather calm about the situation rather than lashing out and madly melting off the near-mindless fools who used to beckon at his will.

Shortly after Harpuia's descent the two guardians were led to the second part of their mission. With the Variant factories temporarily disabled all that remained was to crush the rest of the Neo Arcadian defences and get to Omega before it was too late. Despite X's immense faith in Zero and his abilities, Omega still remained to be a far greater threat than most of the challenges the crimson hero had faced thus far. Were it not for Ciel's intervention in the matter, both Zero and Harpuia would surely have perished in the hands of a Dark Elf powered behemoth. While Zero was currently busy dealing with the traps set by the remaining judges, the two guardians were to make sure the way was paved so that Zero could quickly progress through the fortress.

The task was not one both guardians were pleased to comply with. In one hand, they would be crippling Weil's forces while simultaneously helping the partner their master had an unbelievable amount of faith in. In the other, they were destroying the very tools of protection for the people of Neo Arcadia should the Resistance choose another day to strike. Elpizo's previous skirmish against Neo Arcadia had only failed due to the intervention of the Pantheon numbers and the guardians themselves. Fefnir could only worry of how much disaster would have met the innocent civilians now that their own heroes had turned against them. The task was difficult to stomach indeed, and each had to clear the numbers in such a way as to not get detected by the crimson hunter himself. If that was the case then both guardians would not hesitate to open fire on him, even if they were fighting for the same cause.

Zero on the other hand was far too busy to notice the help that was being given him. What immediately caught his attention was the fact that for every room he progressed in, he would meet with only half-alert troops who seemed to be chasing after another target altogether. He would take advantage of those ill-fated pantheons who seemed to be running off to another direction before noticing his presence, and cleaving their bodies before they can even manage to raise their arms. With the punishment he had taken from the first gate, he was not in a position to be showing mercy. The mission itself was suicidal at best, but he knew that this day was not the one to meet his maker. Another force was clearly at work behind the scenes, and the hero knew that it must have been his friend's intervention making it so.

"You never did stop worrying, X"

Watching over the spectacle in cyberspace were the ever-vigilant eyes of X and Phantom. X knew for a fact what Zero's approach was to losing battles such as this—suicide. He was well-known for his legendary bravery in the face of crises with virtually no chance of survival let alone success. With the amount of times Zero has faced off with death, X was certain that even without the large bulk of his memories, Zero would try to do the same things he had done in the past. Since X could not afford for the hero to lose his life weeding out the mind-numbing numbers of troops before him, he needed the guardians to watch over the numbers, knowing quite well that they would succeed especially with the new power he had given them. However, he needed for them to remain undetected as to prevent any further conflict with his barely complying "children". It was for this reason that Phantom was given the task of rerouting Fefnir and Leviathan to locations where they would surely remain cloaked. After all, with the guardians he was the expert on stealth operations.

"Fefnir, any time now…"

The marching sounds grew closer and closer…

"Be quiet and don't strike until I tell you to."

With each approaching unit was raising their arms…

"Okay brother, but this is really cutting it close."

But a second before the trigger was pulled…

"NOW!"

The guardians had had enough!

A mix of frost and burning sulfur filled the convoluted air, throwing the first line of defense backwards and making them lose their aim. The remaining troops were quick to retaliate by using their overwhelming number and immediately firing at their stationary targets. The obstruction in the air was all that the guardians could pull off at the moment while hails of bullets quickly caught their sight. They would only have to survive this fleeting nightmare for but a few moments longer, withstanding the pain that came along with it. Without losing their posture and stance the guardians firmly held their ground amidst the waves of bullets that pierced their armor, firing at their targets nonetheless. What remained of their shielding was already failing them, with the numbers falling so fast that it no longer bothered them. If they were going to die, it would be trying to protect their beloved citizens from a far greater threat than the Resistance ever could try to become.

The noonday sun was faltering in their visions. Perhaps this would be their last, but neither was too sure. Their vision had started to alternate between the dimness of the steaming horizon and the brightly shining rays of the sun high above them. The hail of bullets that surrounded them to no end nearly deafened them to the point where they were caught unaware of their rescue. What they didn't expect however was to be captured by the wrong group. A circle of purple flames engulfed Leviathan and burnt her already frail body. Overtaken by exhaustion, Leviathan felt a noticeable drop in her energy and faded quicker than she could notice that the attack had stopped. At around the same instant Fefnir felt a painful blast of electricity surging through his body which he met by aiming his beloved launchers at the slim blue figure that generated the blast. The figure had been anticipating this exact action however and naturally intensified his blast. Fefnir's sudden bodily collapse was just an added treat.

"Heee heee heee! How absolutely delightful, wouldn't you say Foxtar?"

"Delightful indeed. Surely we can use this to our advantage."

Fefnir tried to clench a fist only to have his back stepped on by the immense black judge standing before him.

"Insignificant bug! Give me a reason why I shouldn't just end you right now!"

"The punishment for betrayal is death…however like Foxtar said, we can use this to foil that Zero's assault…"

Fefnir's half blind vision faded for a moment only to find his sister incapacitated and being held captive right in front of him. For some reason no matter what he did he could not move his body. The feeling was reminiscent of that time when he was separated from his body in cyberspace.

The fierce general of the Jin'en army could no longer afford to lift his chin up whilst constantly getting slapped about by Volteel Biblio's jittering tail. The whiplash which would be nothing short of a nuisance quickly turned into a subtle form of torture since the fiery general could not subdue himself long enough to get up from the cold merciless floor. Whirlwinds of dust gathered up and blew across his eyes which caused a reflexive blink from his fading vision. _Get up…get…up!_

His strong will kept him from downright collapsing and eventually gave him the strength to get up on a knee. The impatient judges took a long gaze which Fefnir would not forget. He was deeply shocked that the judges whom he once trusted had turned into twisted shells of their former selves. As their eyes fixed themselves upon one another a cold shudder ran across Fefnir's spine. Who were they now? Could they still be saved from their madness and if so, how? The once calm and wise judges that Fefnir had grown to respect over the years had become nothing more than frightening mavericks without the slightest bit of remorse.

"Look at him, still trying to get up. Hahaha! Such a pleasant surprise!", the devilish fox muttered.

The ground visibly shook with the bellows of the huge three-headed executioner. His razor-sharp claws grabbed onto Fefnir's left leg and shattered it with a thunderous display of malice. Pain-filled shrieks from the general polluted the air as a jet of black fluid violently gushed out of his wound. Without extensive repairs he would never be able to walk again. In the same light the judge proceeded to gleefully toss Fefnir's lifeless body across the floor like a ragdoll. The red tint in his eyes had faded to white at this point from the excruciating pain; for a brief moment he felt his soul leave his body only to force himself awake to face his anguish. _When I get my strength back you'll pay for this…you'll all pay for this!_

Although his anger kept him conscious another thought lay there still. With the path his master had abruptly chosen for him, it would only be a matter of time before he himself would have to retire these old friends. With those thoughts in mind Fefnir grovelled on the floor as he heard several bolts of blaster fire and the ground shaking fury of Tretista Kelverian falling to his knees. The guardian could only make out a few words due to the constant rumbling of the floor his head was practically melded to.

"Don't…break….formation…."

The crackling sounds of plasma dissipating sent wonders to the still-blind guardian as he struggled to get himself off the floor.

"Can't….fail…Weill…"

There was no doubt on just exactly who was taking down the judges. Fefnir could recognize that familiar sound of plasma cutting through one's shields. He found it rather ironic yet not surprising that his savior had been the rival he had sought to fight since his more powerful second form was devastated two months prior. Time passed by its steady pace but the guardian kept hanging on. He no longer doubted that he was far too damaged to fight for a good long while, but regretted that he couldn't at least witness Zero's duel with Omega. Oil continued to leak from his fractured leg to the point past numbness.

"Insolent…..mpossi….ou dare to….judgment!"

Upon hearing those words Fefnir felt a great stir in the surrounding area. He braced himself for impact by securing his face between his free arm. Four simultaneous detonations struck the gate and forced it open, allowing the crimson hero entrance to his final destination.

"….ro!"

The blast shook the ground once more and sent shattered bits of debris into the barren cloudless sky. _Zero must be on his way to Omega now. Ahh…how I wish I could have been there to take them both down. Hehe, it seems that in the end I can't even find the strength to get up._

That's when he felt a nearby presence which strangely resembled his master's warmth. He was picked up from his left shoulder and dragged into a nearby corner. A short conversation drifted from seemingly nowhere and he found himself hearing his master's voice. _I must be hallucinating now. What's going on?_

"Ciel, this is Zero, is everyone alright?"

"Resistance to Zero. Everyone seems to be alright but it seems as if it will take some time before anyone can get up."

"Is Cerveau there? Is he in any condition to operate?"

"Operate? Zero what are you talking about?"

"Fefnir's greatly injured. Leviathan as well. I need Cerveau to commence repairs immediately. They don't have long."

"You mean those guardians that were after us before?"

Ciel's next sentence was abruptly halted.

"I don't have time for this. I'm sending you the coordinates."

"Zero…I…I'm so sorry. Everyone's still fast asleep. X told me before he left that if they were to wake up they'd fall right back under the Dark Elf's control…E-even Cerveau isn't allowed to wake up right now. I'd like to help Zero but we currently don't have any reploids in commission right now…"

"Damn it..."

Zero knew that he couldn't just waste the sacrifice Fefnir and Leviathan had made for his behalf. He still wasn't aware of exactly what their motives were but he knew that if he didn't put an end to Weil's schemes, all of everyone's hard efforts would be in vain. He made a dissatisfied grunt as he sensed another approaching presence.

A familiar yellow glow materialized seemingly out of thin air and morphed into the cloaked figure of Zero's former partner.

"Zero, what's going on?"

"Ciel...scratch that. Zero over and out."

For a moment Ciel found herself confused then continued to tend to the incapacitated soldiers in her midst.

Zero immediately deactivated his saber and replaced it in its holster. Without wasting time he pointed at Fefnir and Leviathan's damaged bodies.

"It doesn't look as if they have much time left."

"I'll take care of it Zero and…I'm sorry for causing you this trouble."

"Don't worry about it. They at least managed to distract the judges long enough for me to do a quick entry strike on each of them. Just get them to somewhere safe."

"I will, and good luck."

Zero casually walked ahead and felt a flash of warmth on his back followed by the disappearance of the two wounded warriors. The safety of these fallen comrades assured, he stepped forth to burst open the gates ahead as he approached Omega.

Fefnir felt a strange sense of warmth envelop his body and momentarily found his eyesight restored. His suspicion of who saved him was indeed correct for the image of Zero's back turned as X took him and Leviathan away was burned into his memory.

"Back in this place huh?"

"Don't talk right now Fefnir I'm trying to get you fixed."

"So you learned quite a few tricks since then Phantom?"

"I told you not to talk. You've lost far too much blood in your condition."

Fefnir then stuck to the occasional nod before noticing a helmetless Harpuia leaning in a nearby corner. It seemed as if Harpuia's mission hadn't ended too well either. Fefnir immediately noticed the burned scars that now consumed half of Harpuia's previously unblemished face. His eyes remained focused and calm while waiting for his repairs to reach a bearable amount. Despite the shadow cast by his hair, Fefnir could clearly see that something was troubling Harpuia. Exactly what had happened in the hours they were separated? Shortly, Phantom had assured that Fefnir's own internal systems should take care of itself from this point on and left to tend to the now-waking and not as damaged Leviathan. Her first sight being the brooding visage of Harpuia, she decided to bluntly ask Phantom what was wrong.

"What happened to him?"

"A lot."

Such a simple response was typical of Phantom, who even in life barely talked to the rest of his siblings. While Fefnir took whatever time to rest up and heal his wounds, Leviathan investigated but quickly met with a not so surprising "just leave me alone" remark from her usually high and mighty green clad brother. Still, with the end of their world practically in their immediate midst it was hard to believe that even with the power entrusted to them by their master they still lacked the experience to properly use it. Oceans of emotions flooded the ice maiden to the point of tears as she found that despite her previous efforts and accomplishments, she just couldn't understand why staring death in the face frightened her so. All those years acting strong as symbols of leadership for Neo Arcadia left her with hardly any memories other than strategic planning and dedicating her life to warfare. She wondered if like her, the rest of her siblings missed those simple days when they were simply tasked with repairing the Earth's remains. She pondered and realized how their pointless struggles had littered her beloved ocean with tools of destruction. She recalled the madness that both Copy X and Elpizo displayed in their hapless efforts to have their wills fulfilled. The two were not so different in that regard, however neither posed as great a threat as Weil himself. Her Master X had been right in the pointlessness of war. Her brothers were aware of this as well.

"We were just simple pawns weren't we?"

Harpuia turned his head away and abruptly replied.

"That's not important now. We can't possibly undo those wrongs if we're not able to persevere now. Right now the only thing we can do is rest and hope that Zero succeeds."

He then smashed his numb twitching fist into the floor then looked Leviathan in the eye.

"He has to."

Hours passed and the guardians witnessed Zero's crusade against the remaining armies of Neo Arcadia. His condition was not so much better than theirs yet he still fought valiantly. When X was asked where Zero's great power came from, he gave a response none of them had previously considered.

"He finally found something to fight for."


	15. Abrupt Intervention

Zero was nearly at his destination. For a small fleeting second, even the stubborn guardians could admit that they were relieved at the crimson swordsman's small victories. They had become unwilling spectators in an insidious plot that X had been trying to overthrow the moment he was made aware of Weil's return. Fortunately he was able to get a hold of the guardians in order to balance the odds. The cards had been set and now only the two champions for each side remained.

The final gate was about to open, and Zero was anticipating some great power eagerly awaiting him beyond that barrier. The time for talking was long over. This confrontation would decide the fate of both humans and reploids in the foreseeable future. Although Zero had already faced with challenges like this two times before, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Some faded recollection of a past life was the explanation Zero had learned to accept. The thought of what he was in his past life gnawed at him sometimes but he would usually just shrug them off. At the moment, he was who he was. The slow unveiling of the gate felt like an eternity to him; it was as if he was about to have an important meeting with the truths of the past.

Over in the world of cyberspace, Harpuia impatiently waited with his siblings. His wounds were healing faster than usual due to Phantom's actions but it would take approximately two hours and forty-five minutes before his systems were stable. At least that's what his diagnostic revealed. Having nothing else to pass the time, Harpuia stomached his ordeal and recalled the events of what occurred during that time after regaining consciousness. His loss against Weil was one failure that he could not hide no matter how much he tried to deny it. Painful as the trial was he for some reason couldn't find the strength to stomach his encounter against a particular weakened judge.

From his recollection Weil had tossed him out of orbit approximately 12 minutes after daybreak. The bright flash of sunlight was something that nearly blinded him for a moment before losing consciousness in his fall. It would take another two hours and forty-five minutes for his internal repairs to be complete and he was well enough to get up. Nearly seventeen hours of paving his way free of obstruction already put his body in an uncomfortable strain not including the injuries he received from Weil during his trip. The first conscious thing he did was remove a partially melted and damaged helmet down to the ground. It didn't seem as if he had any use for the thing in its current state.

Strangely enough, except for a noticeable missing component in the holster of one of his blades, they still seemed to be in perfect working order.

"Some kind of entrance…"

This brush with death was not one he let off lightly but his tensed state found some reassurance in the fact that he seemed not to be too far off from where his siblings were. With any luck he'd be able to meet up with them again. Even if his mission hadn't succeeded fully, their best bet was to keep moving and eliminating more enemy units. No one could afford to remain stagnant. Lifting his still scarred body up he came across a field littered with the melted bodies of Variants previously dealt with. These lifeless bodies had been reminders of the same forces he had to eliminate while in Ragnarok. Certainly they were a slightly bigger challenge than the more pathetic Pantheons and it was fortunate that none were left to trouble him. A status report concluded that he was still somehow flight capable but not combat capable in the least sense.

He at least knew that much. A reflection revealed that he had lost the vast majority of his armor in the fall. His elbow joints still showed signs of bleeding and his left arm had been crushed beyond repair. Whatever was left of it was barely attached to its socket. The emerald and gold hue his thrusters once had become blackened and burned out. His golden armlets had fallen off revealing layers of scorched metal underneath. Lines of broken circuitry comprised a good half of his face which gave the illusion that half his face had been clawed off. He stared at this image for an instant and reflexively covered his face. His eyes refocused on his direct surroundings and assessed his systems.

"Locator…offline, teleportation unit inaccessible, shielding systems critical, sonic blades barely online, armor is obviously nonoperational… thrusters...hm, surprisingly online."

Upon discovering that convenience he activated his thrusters and hovered above the horizon. A great portion of the perimeter was still scorched with Fefnir's flames yet it appeared as if careful detail was put into making sure none of this reached any civilian area. _On such an ordinary-looking day the citizens of Neo Arcadia are likely to just be casually living their lives._ _What a complacent lifestyle. Do they even know what it is we have to do just to maintain that? No matter…I should keep moving_.

Unknown to him and everyone outside Neo Arcadia, Weil's tyrannical reign had already begun. All those who started to realize this had been silenced, regardless of whether or not they were human. One of these particular citizens would later include a certain overconfident reporter named Neige. Unsatisfied with the complacency the majority found in Weil's reign she decided to investigate other places for her and others to flee.

Harpuia's hovering only lasted a matter of seventy-five seconds before they abruptly shut down and he flung to the ground once more. This fall rendered his left arm useless and his right arm lightly coating itself with more black fluid. The internal spark caused by his exposed left arm reacted with the oil and burst into flames. Despite his native alignment with electricity, this relatively minute electrical fire seared even more pain. He rolled to the ground desperately trying to put out the fire, shutting down whatever frame was left of his left arm. The pain was immense and the once the fire was put out the wounded general was literally steaming with exhaustion. The sand that mixed with the oil flowing out of his body eventually hardened into several uneven layers. Filthy and exhausted, Harpuia crawled until he got to the gate's entrance. Picking himself up once more he limped his way towards the first gate Zero pierced through.

More dismembered carcasses flooded the floor with shattered gauntlets and limbs. In any case of emergency he was to regroup with his siblings; this particular location was where they would have been at this time. Unfortunately he was unable to pinpoint exactly where they were.

The surrounding corridors were ruined past recognition. Molten pipes spewed out clouds of steam while collapsed ceilings seemed to merge with the cracked chasms that used to be the floor. Burnt metal panels from where plasma once dissipated led to holes extending several feet long. This sight was simply one of blood and carnage.

"How could one reploid possibly cause this much damage on his own?"

He quickly snapped out of this delusion as he remembered that this was Zero's doing after all. A reflexive cough spewed out a fresh coating of oil into his blackened gloves.

One hand continued to grasp with a shattered shoulder still oozing with fresh oil. Whatever fragments of armor he had left were tattered. If it wasn't for the distinctive green arrow-shaped facial marks under his eyes one would find it hard that this wreck used to be the fierce General Harpuia of the Rekku Army. The title at this point felt like it held no more relevance for the wounds he almost permanently worn had gained more personal value than any of the medals he had earned in the past.

The wreckage that had ensued in the first and second gates did not change along with the leagues of soulless husks that flooded the scenery. Weakly dragging himself across the wall in a shaded corridor was yet another familiar being in the form of Hellbat Schilt.

The judge known for his aristocratic demeanor had been reduced to a shivering wreck.

"Oh how absolutely laughable! To think that even with such an elaborate strategy we would still fall under that uncivil brute! This gate was supposed to be impenetrable. How is it that such an ancient model could ever accomplish this utter carnage? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, especially in that fake body of his!"

The judge coughed out some oil from his mouth. Harpuia wondered if the judge had become this delusional or if he even noticed his presence. In either possibility neither of them appeared as if they were capable of combat.

"Now look at me, shivering like a sewer rat in this farce of a defense we used to call a fortress! Unforgivable, simply unforgivable."

Harpuia continued on his short trek until he was a mere 5 meters away from the judge.

"You! After everything I had experienced surely you must just be another illusion. Tell me, tell me how it is that after all my crimes that brute still had the audacity to spare my insignificant existence? I can't make sense of it. I just can't make sense of it."

Instead of answering the clearly insane judge Harpuia just marched on. Schilt and the other judges once held such a high regard with the four generals. There was once a time when the generals would come to them to seek counsel when dealing with Mavericks. This was long before Copy X began his tirades against Ciel and the Resistance, and when Zero was still deep in hibernation. As a result, a deep trusting relationship was developed between the still inexperienced guardians and the eight individuals who acted like mentors to them. To see their gentleness fade away and become so corrupted with the meddling of a monster within such a short time was heartbreaking to say the least. Did they even have the time to mourn for their valued comrades before Omega's arrival? Probably not, but such was the nature of the conflict. Schilt's insane ramblings continued for a time until Harpuia could stand it no longer. He had to put this dying judge to rest. It was the least he could do to regain his unstable state of mind. All this time he felt as if he was just a pawn to his overwhelming sense of duty.

He approached the judge who he knew no longer recognized him or anyone else. The friend he once knew was dead. This was just a dying monster forced into that body. Harpuia used his free arm to unsheathe a sonic blade. The blade itself glowed with an unstable aura. With short sparks of plasma the pinkish tint that it usually held turned into a dull shade of green. Whatever the cause was for this peculiar event was of no concern to the general. He just needed to end this dying animal's misery.

The judge made out the color of the blade and lashed out, thinking that it was his oppressor that had come back for him.

"Coming back to tend to a wounded animal I see, Zero. I hope you rot in hell! That fake body of yours will never withstand the might of Omega, just you try!"

His insane laughter only made Harpuia's task heavier. As if being revived by his immense anger, the judge transformed into his beastly other half. In this form, the damage dealt to him was far more visible. Half his horns had been torn out, both legs' internal circuits had been exposed and severed. Most of all, his wings appeared to have taken irreparable damage. Even with extensive repairs, the judge would never be able to fly again. Still he struggled to get up. Still he struggled to fight against his delusion. He crawled on all fours, trying to grasp Harpuia's leg but was too weak to support himself for more than a matter of seconds. He crashed down to the floor and shrieked.

"You bastard…BARBARIAN!"

At that moment, Harpuia's blade and the judge's core merged.

The clashing force was enough to temporarily illuminate the darkness that devoured the wounded corridor. Once the light had ended its shine, the judge had reverted back to his humanoid form. In that final moment, his eyes seemed to have cleared and his sanity restored.

"Is this what they call divine providence Harpu-"

His voice faded with each word until his sentence was left midway. More forceful coughs spewed internal fluid as Harpuia marched away. A leader of his caliber knew when to remain silent and this was one of those times. He would think of what that moment meant up until Phantom found him and he was taken to a place more secure than the dying fortress.

"…ia…Harpuia!"

The guardian broke out of his state of reminisce and joined the others in watching Zero's progress. By the looks of things, Zero was doing fairly well against a fully-powered Omega. With the guardians' previous experience against the giant, neither had been prepared to see how agile the behemoth was despite his bulky size. Although this was a reason for their failure in the past, Zero had no such problem keeping up with him. All things considered, it seemed like a miracle that he was fighting toe to toe even after Omega had absorbed the Dark Elf.

The two clashing forces unleashed everything they had, their blades shrieking in retaliation. Rapid volleys of sparks and the hashing of plasma blades devastated the surrounding laboratory beneath them. Neither was willing to let up and neither showed any signs of slowing down. Zero thoughtfully managed each strike with a mix of charged buster shots and saber slashes. He had to be careful about Omega getting too close.

Behind the portal walls of cyberspace X was carefully planning out the next mission. Knowing full well what Omega was capable of he couldn't afford to leave his followers in their current condition. Any help they could give was of absolute importance. Alas, two were barely able to get up and one had sustained critical damage from a grand atmospheric skydive. He was nearly out of options and his energy had continued to dwindle ever since he lost his body. It seemed he had no choice. It was either drop his blanket of protection over the Resistance Base, or send the barely capable guardians into suicide. Compromise was not a position he had the luxury of having. His ghostly eyes stared into the portals showing Zero in his struggle.


	16. Aftershock

Punctures of molten metal dripped from red weeping walls. Crackles of dust and dirt intermingled into an unsavory mix of sludge which served to devour any clean spaces left after the warriors burned their path on the stage. With unrelenting eyes Zero dashed his way through the seemingly endless volley of plasma shots and distracting debris that Omega hurled at him at tremendous speed unfathomable to mere mortals. To the average human eye, the stage appeared to be a constantly blank yet illuminated patch of barren land. In reality, the lights around the room had long been extinguished by the skirmish of both combatants and it was the constant yet momentary clash of their blades which illuminated every speck of the room before them. Omega was utterly exhilarated by the display of power his opponent was showing. Despite having come back to the surface of the Earth, he had not been allowed to engage in much combat. His hunger and lust drove him into a sick state of euphoria and he wanted nothing less from a worthy opponent. He would fire a steady barrage of lasers at the hero who would sidestep right past them. Although Omega's systems were boosted tenfold by merging with the Dark Elf, somehow it seemed as if his power was not enough. As time passed on he had the strangest feeling that Zero had already had him figured out.

There was no room for underestimation with his opponent. Although battered and nearly on the cusp of overheating, Zero refused to budge. This was not the first time everyone depended on him to make it back and save the world but the overwhelming pressure was building up. He let out his frustration with every lunge and every heavy swipe of his trusty saber while he hacked away at Omega's defenses. The bulky reploid appeared to be much more predictable at this stage, and after hours of steady fighting, the warrior had long mastered his opponent's movements. Slight unnoticeable gestures like a millimeter's twitch on Omega's right shoulder would signal a volley of lasers while a gentle twist of the right ankles would mean that he was about to lunge forward with his sword. Every once in a while Omega would get lucky and catch Zero by surprise which did not bode well the last time it happened.

A recording of the same battle 47 minutes prior had Zero taken by surprise by Omega's dislodged left arm ramming at top speed behind him. Zero managed to dodge this only to find himself under the grasp of Omega's other set of claws. A split second's worth of a fully powered crush would severely drain Zero's shields enough before his barrier raised up again. Before enough damage could be done, a reflexive kick at Omega's lower hip area from Zero would break him free out of entrapment only to send pieces of Zero's right boot momentarily floating in mid-space. The motion would send both Omega and Zero hurdling into the opposite direction with each trying to regain balance faster than the other. Omega was outbalanced enough to nearly fall on his face but managed to save himself by scraping his titanic sword on the floor and using it as a balancer. Zero somersaulted and outstretched his left hand in the air while he simultaneously charged and activated his recoil rod. The impact of the charged rod meeting with the ground would be enough for Zero to close in the distance with Omega. Unfortunately Omega had anticipated the attack and used his tremendous weight as an advantage. By tipping over his sword ever so slightly backwards his entire weight was forced into Zero with a crushing heel kick that sent the hero flying back into the air. These two attacks alone drained a significant 37% of Zero's shields which was far more damage than he'd sustained up to that point in such a short amount of time. Zero made a habit of almost never getting hit by his enemies—whether it was a leader or cannon fodder. To be drained that significantly by this opponent with only _two_ strikes was frightening. Just what was this monster?

Upon restoring our view to the current time Zero had finally managed to strike down enough of Omega's barrier and all that remained was to do a final charged stab to disable the beast. Omega, now fully angered by the aptitude of his rival had long begun to absorb copious amounts of the Dark Elf's power without Zero's knowledge. Although he put up the illusion of being close to defeat, he was that much closer to evolving. All he needed was a push.

Zero activated both of his recoil rods and dashed to the side of Omega at a 75˚ angle. A small thrust would send Omega crashing down on the remaining wall of the fortress and leaving Zero with a split second to close the distance and make the final stab. Before Omega could send his hands to block the way Zero blasted the wreck of a left hand Omega had with a charged buster shot and shattered the other with the pounding of his other hand's saber. As Omega tried to get away he could merely watch as Zero stabbed two sabers into his chest and thrust them deep enough to cut through his armor. A bright white light emanated from the spot then and there as Zero dislodged his swords and jumped out of the way. In the split second before he blocked the blinding light with his arm he could have sworn he saw a darker armored reflection of himself inside Omega's torn chest. The sound that later followed the explosion was deafening even to Zero's ears. A quick shudder rushed down his spine as the sensation he felt from that light was too familiar from another Dark Elf empowered warrior he faced off with in the past. He felt the ground start to rumble and felt as if the blinding shining lights were eternal.

The white light cleared and the crimson warrior found himself falling off of a great height. Wherever he was, it was nowhere near Neo Arcadia's fortress and it was somewhere outside. Surrounding platforms of similarly falling concrete triggered two thoughts within Zero. One was that he could use these to his advantage in order to lessen the impact of the fall; the other was the hope that once the objects do land that they weren't near any civilians or allies. Zero felt a large set of projectiles approach him and dashed out of the way only to see that the floor he was stepping on had been crushed by a plasma bolt far larger than he had seen on any weapon. He charged a recoil rod and barely managed to land onto another platform but noticed something. The bright light shining miles above him wasn't the sun. It was the opponent who had just fired the weapon.

Towering above him with large elf-like wings Omega appeared more menacing and far larger than ever. Strangely, his main body appeared to have been composed of parts resembling both his and X's. Each shoulder guard appeared to have different heads and distinctly different armoring: one blue arm took aim of him and possessed an immense buster mounted onto it; the other was a red armoured arm that slightly resembled his own and was clutching onto what appeared to be a deactivated saber hilt. Zero continued to dodge the plasma bursts from his titanic foe and hopping from platform to platform. The loud sizzle of dissipating plasma and erupting concrete became a slight irritation to the hero. Not letting his enemy analyze his movements again Omega flew straight forward to where Zero was, his wings activating thrusters which burned the surrounding air and clouded the skies with large black clouds. A swing of his arm would activate a plasma blade comparable to eight times Zero's height. The hero made a hard swallow as he prepared to block the blow. A sword of that enormity would impossible to dodge given the limited moving space that he had. The last thing to do was hope that his charged sabers would be enough to sustain a hit and then defensively positioned them crosswise to each other. Of course this had to be done at the right moment or he would surely be sliced in half regardless of the defensive enhancements the cyber elves had given him. Omega's sword swung ever so closely towards Zero's own sabers.

The loud crackle of the impact shattered the floor Zero was in and sent him rushing through in mid-air. His sabers were fortunately able to hold their own against Omega's towering blade but his arms had obviously sustained some damage. The aftershock of the hit rendered his left arm another blow from becoming unusable while his right arm was already bleeding profusely. Without a doubt he couldn't afford another direct hit like that. Omega immediately followed up with a triple shot from his enormous buster to which Zero activated his shield boomerang in response.

The shield wasn't strong enough to bounce the shots back at Omega, but it was enough to lessen the impact of the plasma burning through one's personal shields. Zero hopped onto another set of platforms and approached Omega who prepared to strike his blade once more. After defending from Omega's buster, Zero's shielding was drained to a measly 4%. A second later Zero was forced to cough out a handful of his own blood. _Goddamn this isn't good_…Instinctively he activated a subtank to recharge his personal shielding and heard the ring of energy bars being restored. Although his barrier was back up to 100%, the internal damage done to him was now starting to hinder him from his maximum combat efficiency. He now only had 1 and a half of his 4 subtanks ready for use.

His only remaining shot was to keep firing charged shots at Omega long enough to act as a distraction while he neared his gigantic foe. Every buster shot was nonchalantly blocked by Omega's saber and forced to miss its mark entirely. Even if he could manage to get near enough, he was running out of platforms to get on and Omega had certain superiority over the skies. Zero recalled his many battles against Harpuia and thought of a certain strategy when it came to blade-wielding airborne enemies. Despite their ranged capabilities, these enemies would sooner or later close the distance themselves to make sure that their blades hit personally. Though projectiles were a viable tactic, these enemies eventually knew that dodging projectiles was Zero's expertise. Zero on the other hand knew that no matter how fast or how strong the strike his opponents' sabers would make, a swift dodge at the right moment would expose a weak spot regardless. This was Zero's hope as he prepared to receive another piercing blow from Omega.

As close as he approached he could not manage to get any critical hits on the beast. Thankfully he was able to adapt a few tricks from the judges as well as the guardians. By activating the fire chip within his body, Zero was able to imbue his swords with enough heat to make his arm guards begin to melt ever so slightly. A barrage of saber shockwaves that he learned from Harpuia as well as throw blades from Childre Inarabitta was enough to bypass Omega's sword and hit him much more efficiently than his buster shots. Omega continued to alternate between controlled bursts from his buster and relentless slashes from his saber while Zero's platforms continued to dwindle and grow scarce. They were now both barely missing each other by mere inches while the comparative heat of their weapons slowly ate through their shields. Zero was quite thankful for the subtanks that he habitually recharged before any major battle for without it he would surely have been fried moments ago.

"So that's how powerful Zero has grown."

Harpuia with his arms crossed continued to watch his rival through a portal screen. The rest of his siblings stood silent but clearly had the urge and bloodlust that they showed only when they were hungry for a challenge. Whether this was for the wounded Zero or the equally damaged Omega, the guardians felt no difference or equal care. Fefnir violently gnashed his teeth and only barely prevented himself from drawing out his non-operational launchers and firing at the screen. Leviathan tightly gripped her spear and coldly anticipated each passing blow from the two duelists, showing a slight hint of jealousy that she couldn't be there to join in on the fun. Phantom gazed with an expressionless face, hoping that the legendary hero would make it before falling to his own wounds. As for X, his expression was one so profoundly indistinguishable that it made his ghostly form seem even more otherworldly. He wore an expression that only one who has fought his equal share of battles at impossible odds would have. It was a virulent mix of anxiety and excitement; of hope and confusion but most of all...what he shared with Zero in this moment was the focused set eyes of one who has people to protect no matter what the odds.

Like hordes of rampaging locusts Zero's saber shockwaves and throw blades littered the cloudy skies above and tore through the black clouds made by Omega's rear thrusters. Timing was of great importance to the battle; the slightest missed step at the wrong millisecond would mean being flung at an absurd distance away from his opponent along with a severe shield drain. The difference of each mistake from the last would be an even less amount of platforms and being caught in a powerless freefall in which Omega would surely prevail. Zero had managed to blunder two times, each with pressing consequences to his own safety. Only 13 usable platforms remained with Omega seemingly floating at the same space at the very top. This time, only a difference of two critical hits would be enough to down the beast but the odd of successfully pulling it off was so insignificant that Zero struggled to ignore it. The thought of Ciel and the other Resistance members being executed by Weil drove Zero to keep trying even if it meant his life.

X chuckled with a certain morose expression of one who has experienced the death of a close friend before his very eyes. The expression that Zero wore reminded him of that same incident during Sigma's first rebellion.

"There's nothing you can do now X! Go after Sigma!"

The crimson hero charged his buster while clasping onto the back of a purple maverick's Ride Armor. The maverick continued to swear as he desperately attempted to shake off the hunter.

"Go…X…!"

X remembered losing his hesitation from Zero's sacrifice. Unlike that and the other dire battles they faced, he no longer possessed a physical body and Zero had no backup, at least not until they were in any shape to fight.

"As always suicide is his solution to battles such as this…do your best Zero!"

Omega's shields were now on the cusp of breaking down and he wondered at how it was possible for Zero to match his strength despite being at an exponential disadvantage to his current body. What more, the last time he had been defeated by Zero's fake body the hero was accompanied by the legendary maverick hunter X. Their combined powers allowed them to defeat Omega but only barely then, yet how was it that this sole weakened hero was able to down a far deadlier version of him? Omega let his doubts slide as he prepared to spring a counterattack to the raging hero.

Omega had managed to blast off the final remaining platform 2 seconds after Zero jumped off from it. The hero had one shot to make the strike and he was not about to waste it. Zero had reached the height of Omega's lower thigh but in retaliation, Omega attempted to knee him out of the way. Zero of course anticipated this and used Omega's knee as a spring to fling him up to the monster's head area. He then activated his sabers and carved through Omega's body, effectively draining his shields completely. The monster writhed in pain but nevertheless summoned a last trick up his sleeve. A large circular red field was generated from Omega's horns which were quick to engulf Zero in its grasp. Unlike him, Zero had no control over where he was going in the air and the proximity of his opponent to him left him no choice but to finish him off using his horns. This method wasn't preferred, as Omega wanted to feel the satisfaction of slicing Zero in half with his sword, but it would be enough to rid him of his opponent.

Zero vigorously tried to escape the barrier by continuously moving. Strangely the faster he moved the less the barrier would have a hold on him. Omega's eyes lit up and tried to impale Zero into his horns before he could escape but it was too late. Zero upon breaking free from the red barrier's grasp immediately lit up his sword and dove into Omega's anticipating horns. His left hand caught hold of a horn and felt intense discomfort at the impact. Omega immediately tried to shake off Zero from his horns by shaking his head about and was about to swat Zero away with his sword. Before the sword could make its strike Zero proceeded to slide down Omega's horns, stripping his left hand to its bare bones in the process. Screaming his anger out, Zero stabbed a saber into Omega's eyes and stepped on it for it to go deeper before dislodging it as Omega screamed in pain. Omega's sword continued to fling in his general direction which Zero took advantage of by jumping off and punching the beast's right elbow, thereby causing his immense sword to cut halfway through his face. After this, Zero merely kicked away at Omega's right elbow and waited to hit the ground.

His landing caused a wave of green water to splash all around and equally drenched his tired body. Zero knelt on one knee with one saber holstered and another deactivated on his right hand. Upon lifting his head up he quickly surveyed the area and noticed Omega's shattered remains. He breathed a sigh of relief while vocally uttering:

"What is this place?"

A flash of memory appeared before Zero and caused him to realize that this was the place where he had been sealed for a hundred years.

"This is where I was sleeping…"

Another memory reminded him that this place had collapsed on itself the last time he had been there. There was no way for it to be restored to its original state after his awakening. Before he could figure out a way to get back to the base, a familiar maniacal laugh made Zero become more alert.

"Excellent, Zero! Your power is extraordinary for a mere fake."

"Fake?"

A genuine expression of shock and confusion fell upon Zero's visage. His eyebrows furrowed down and gazed upon the valley of flames that engulfed the land surrounding him. Momentarily the ground shook and a large shining object bathed the scenery in a vast blanket of white light.

_Shit! Don't tell me he's still alive…_

Standing before him was a darker reflection of himself emitting an intense blue light from his head crystal. Yellow glowing eyes pierced through the brightness of dawn as nearby rocks floated around the reflection. Weil's arrogant speech continued with another wave of laughter.

"You, the legendary Reploid? You fool! Those Resistance losers just decided to call the Reploid they found here 'Zero' for some reason…You may be Zero, in a way, but you're still merely a copy."

Zero's hand grasped his saber hilt and removed the other from its holster.

"You're no legendary hero at all. You're just a reproduction!"

Over at cyberspace X imperatively asked:

"Phantom, how are the state of repairs?"

"Everyone is still at 67% completion with repairs. They're still not good enough for prolonged combat, especially not against Omega."

"Damn it! Fefnir, Harpuia, Leviathan, can you all still stand?"

"Barely Master X, and our weapon systems aren't in any shape to be activated yet."

"How much longer do we have before everyone's ready to fight?"

"The internal repairs will have been completed at approximately 75 minutes. Even then I can't guarantee that the shield system won't short circuit."

"That…that's good enough. Do your best Phantom."

Phantom weakly nodded and continued to simultaneously code repair protocols for the guardians' internal systems. Harpuia continued to watch the portal and couldn't help but brandish his blades upon hearing Weil's voice. Just like X, he hoped to make it there on time.

"You thought you were a hero all along didn't you? Never suspecting that you were a mere copy…what a joke! Omega here is the one and only, original Zero! You're just a copy of him!"

"The original Zero…"

Zero knew better than to fall for Weil's trickery yet he felt a great sense of truth behind Weil's rambling. Even so, he couldn't help but question his motives.

"Why is he your slave then?"

Weil loudly grunted and smashed his hands onto the communications panel, effectively cracking the console.

"Hmph! He's a bloodthirsty God of Destruction, all I did was upgrade him to draw out all his power!"

Zero stood in guard of the being in front of him. The soulless-looking mirror image of himself patiently stood as if he was awaiting orders.

"All right, Omega….or should I say 'Original Zero'! Time to wake this pitiful fake from a century-long dream!"

Zero's grew wide-eyed as Omega's yellow glowing eyes darkened to a piercing red. A swipe of his left hand drew out a full lock of shining golden hair which floated for a mid-second before a white transparent barrier appeared to cover his entire body. With a large prideful grin, Omega drew out a Z-saber hilt almost identical to Zero's own except for its blade which glowed with a blood-red tint once ignited.

"I am the Messiah! Ha ha ha!"

Everyone from Sigma and his fallen minions in cyberspace, to X, the guardians, and Zero heavily anticipated Omega's next action.


	17. Breaking the barriers

Although clearly in shock, Zero was in no position to hold back despite his state of disrepair. As he noted the small ticks of time it took for Omega to draw out his sword and lunge while dashing straight at him, he desperately tried to ignore the loud clamoring of his internal diagnostics. Given the critical condition of his body he knew that at any time, at any inopportune moment his reactor could go critical and fail. Wild uncontrollable sparks ejected out of his bleeding left shoulder which chaotically pierced through his shields.

Zero tried to stifle the pain of having to move his disabled arm while trying to raise his right arm in unison. In a matter of 0.2 seconds his right arm would be raised just enough to block the swift lunge Omega had initiated. Even though the block was successful, Omega had still managed to further strain the damage on Zero's bleeding left shoulder while failing by mere millimetres to hit the hero's exposed neck. The sheer heat of their energy blades clashing together began to drill through the crimson warrior's energy reserves. As he winced in pain he noticed the slight twitch in his enemy's left leg which was instantaneously followed by a series of thunderous knees to the face. After which, Omega proceeded to grab onto Zero's hair and used it to smash him onto the ground with his right leg stepping on his chest. At the moment, Zero's only response to this was to cough out blood. With Zero now on the ground, Omega prepared to stab his sword into Zero's burnt chest, to which he retaliated by igniting his shield boomerang at just the right moment. Half a second longer and he would have found his chest in immense numbing pain and the grisly death that would come almost immediately afterwards. Before long, Zero was unable to ignore the red flashes of data that appeared in his direct line of sight.

* * *

Defensive system diagnostic:

LE meter…..26% and draining…..  
Internal reactor levels 45% to critical  
Sub tank unit numbers 1, 2, and 3 drained at 0% energy…  
Sub tank unit number 4 operating with an energy recharge rate of 14% per second…

Combat system status:

Left shoulder armor compromised…...reactor connections rendered inert…nano-repair systems online in 15 seconds and counting...  
Shield boomerang operating at 56% efficiency and draining…  
Z-saber operating at 66% efficiency….charge function disabled….

* * *

While these dire series of texts would have served as enough of a warning, Zero's promise to keep everyone safe kept him going. Using a last ounce of strength, Zero pushed off the blade stabbed right at his shield boomerang and caused his enemy to slightly lose grip of his own blade. This opportunity could not be missed and the crimson knight found himself kicking Omega out of the way while simultaneously launching himself up off the ground. Zero returned to his natural combat stance and disabled his shield boomerang to draw out his signature blade. With his sword positioned right in front of him, Zero was in no position to be in anything else other than the defensive. However, since he was essentially fighting against himself, there had to be some room for weaknesses. Who better to take advantage of those weaknesses than he?

Omega dashed towards him and managed to launch him into the air with a familiar-looking sword uppercut. In trying to regain his balance, Zero somersaulted and used his sword as an additional barrier of defence while Omega did the same. The mirror's crimson edge glowed with a fluorescent green as his own version of the aerial somersault slash generated green energy shockwaves that flew towards Zero at enormous speed. Fortunately he was fast enough to block the energy waves with his own blade and swatted them away before landing on the ground. Omega's merciless assault ceased to stop as he, still airborne, positioned his blade downwards in front of him, and imbued it with the element of ice.

Such a move carried a lot of risk as not only did it leave the entire rear area open for attack, but it kept the attacker locked into moving at a single direction. As Zero had discovered in the past, an aerial down stab would only be effective for single opponents left without any room for escape. For Zero, this was not the case and he dashed towards Omega's blind spot. _Recoil rod activated…charge level at 25%._ The almost wide gaping spot was free for any manner of assault but in order to recompose himself, Zero had to break the close proximity within them. Omega may have had greater power on his side but he left far too many blind spots which could be taken advantage of in the distance. In order to do so he had to push Omega away. What better way but to lunge at him with his recoil rod as Omega's surprised facial expression turned to see that Zero had already launched the attack?

The direct hit was only signified by the white barrier which immediately covered Omega's injured frame. Consequently the sheer force of the impact generated a small crater where he landed and he was not at all pleased with the result. This was the first of the many times Zero would need to get lucky. With Omega at full power and Zero greatly injured, it would take some grand miracle for even him to win. Despite his body's protests, he couldn't afford to fail Ciel and everyone else that he cared about. With his force of sheer will, Zero had conquered his body's weaknesses and proceeded to engage on the offensive which was his only remaining option.

Zero's own fighting style was heavily restricted to the close- to mid-range. Although he was truly devastating once he got into range, his weakened state was in no condition to fend off Omega's blows hit after hit. Taking advantage of his opponent's slightly dazed state from being launched into the ground, Zero charged both his buster shot and shield boomerang on either arm. One had been equipped with a fire chip while the other with an electric. Despite the consequence of having his left arm take more internal damage and cancelling out the scarce internal repairs, Zero had no choice but to use it to create an opening. After the two weapons finished charging almost in unison Zero simultaneously launched both waves of attacks. Another wave of internal sparks leaked out of his injured limb and he had to ignore the numbing sting of the pain that came from it.

The air began to smoke where the burst shot had left its trail whilst the shaking ground was covered in the blue glowing electric entrails of the shield sweep. Though Omega was successfully able to deflect the shield boomerang, the burst shot that came before it had hit him square in the face. The disgruntled warrior winced at the pain of losing more of his LE meter and punched the ground with a glowing left fist. Sizable shots of plasma energy emerged from the spot where he had struck the ground and spread out in a fan-shaped spectacle. Zero's shield boomerang had yet to return to him but seeing as the burst shot had little effect on his opponent, he decided to switch over his buster shot's element into ice.

Waves upon waves of ice arrows unleashed at multiple spots left plenty to temporarily distract Omega. In this moment of rest between the two's war of attrition, Zero activated what remained of his sub tanks. The recharge was enough to leave but a hair's breadth on his LE meter and to restart the automated nano-repairs on his internal components. Zero could feel the strained noises of his breathing but found it strange that he had the need to even though as a machine there was no use for air.

Three and half seconds later, Omega had finished hacking his way past the ice arrow barrage and had reached a range within twenty feet of Zero's location. The shield boomerang had just managed to return to its mount on Zero's left arm but he had just enough energy left to remain active. Zero charged his buster once more in order to continue his share of the projectile onslaught between him and his opponent. Similarly, Omega did the same. Swirling bits of white encrypted data swarmed near Omega's free left arm as it glowed with a white-hot aura brighter than his barrier. A short fleeting instance later, Omega's free hand had morphed into the shape of a white arm cannon adorned with green triangular jewels on either side. The warrior launched two charged shots in quick succession while he dashed forward, and followed it up with a third sword shockwave from his crimson-tinted saber.

The two white hot shots of plasma burned hotly enough to partially evaporate the green murky waters that the heroes had been stepping on. Thinking that the shots could be cancelled out by his own, Zero attempted to shoot at the large moving target zooming towards him. The charged shot had failed however and Omega's shot managed to "phase" through Zero's own. Zero had only enough time to reflexively block the shot with the shield boomerang mounted onto his left arm. The first shot had managed to be deflected by the trusty shield but its charge had fully run out by the second. Like a cannonball seizing its impact upon a human's unarmored chest, Zero fully felt the blow moving past him and shaking up his metallic spine. The splatters of blood that were violently cast out of his mouth had succumbed to the heat of the blast in the same manner: evaporating within a split second.

While his system diagnostic relentlessly warned him of the dangers of overusing his injured arm, Zero had not fully felt the throb of the warning until his arm had rendered itself as nothing but a ragdoll's element. While it remained frozen in place when the shield boomerang was still active, fierce miniature explosions visibly tore apart at his tendons. The span of the hits was enough to cover Zero's arm from his fingertips to the base of his arm. Subsequently, the Z-saber that was mounted onto his left arm to form the shield boomerang had become far too damaged to be of any use. Zero didn't need the persistent warnings of his structural integrity to know that this Z-saber was now offline.

It was hard to ignore the fact that Omega had received his share of visible damage while dealing with Zero. Several partially-molten puncture marks were embedded into his crimson chest armor where his shield had fallen seconds ago. It could also be observed that enough of his right arm, lower ribs and leg armors had been stripped down nearly to their bare bones. Omega saw the direness of his situation and prepared to dash to Zero's location for a kamikaze assault. Theoretically from the damage each had inflicted on one another, neither was in any way, shape or form to fight to their fullest potential. However, due to their mutual stubbornness and strength of will, their heavily damaged components continued to function as if they normally would. This of course with the few exceptions such as Omega's injured legs and Zero's heavily strained arms. In spite of Zero's sustained onslaught, nevertheless Omega appeared to be virtually unhurt by this, barely flinching for every hit that was landed on him.

* * *

"How can he still remain fighting?" Harpuia protested as he dejectedly watched the massacre that was unfolding.

"For every single hit he would land on Omega, the beast would somehow manage to simply shrug it off!"

"So this is the Dark Elf's power…" Phantom quietly remarked, "so frighteningly resilient…"

The remaining three guardians were too shocked to comment. Regardless of their great losses against the crimson hero none of them could bear to watch as he continually marched to his own death. Even from behind the ethereal walls of cyberspace the guardians could feel the damage that was inflicted on both Zero's external shields and the retaliation of his internal systems.

"His reactor could go into critical any moment now. Surely there's something we can do even in our state Master X!"

Without a semblance of any warning, Harpuia's helmet crystal glowed with a blinding red. Similarly the same could be observed from the rest of his siblings. Within a matter of a few measly instants, the previously rendered irreparable damage inflicted on all three guardians had begun to recover and each healed at an exponential rate. Fefnir grinned at the fact that he could now manage to clench his fingers without feeling the excruciating sting of his bleeding circuits. Phantom's focused eyes broke out in distraction at how quickly his siblings had been recovering. Archaic as the term was, the diagnostic program that Phantom was running to conduct repairs had gone "off the charts". Before long, the repair program itself had short circuited at the sheer speed of their recovery and somehow even the missing shards of their armor had begun reappearing. The event was unprecedented for any of the guardians' era. Had it not been for the records of X's unexplained repair at the end of the Eurasia incident the guardians would have started believing in archaic human superstitions.

"What's going on Master X?"

X's back continued to face them but he knew exactly what was going on. Even he had never uncovered the full mystery of his creation but he knew that in rare cases such as this, the only explanation was Dr. Light's elusive design. He bitterly smiled at the relatively fresh memory of the Eurasia incident's conclusion. Sigma's mouth beam had just pierced through his and Zero's torso. That combined with his accumulated combat damage from the earlier series of battles ensured a near instantaneous loss of consciousness which was shadowed by a greatly numb feeling in both his arms and his lower torso. The only thing he remembered in his state of unconsciousness was Dr. Light's faint reassuring voice urging for him to live longer. Hours later he found himself awakened perfectly intact in perfect condition…as if all his damage was just the result of a lucid nightmare. Snapping out of this painful recollection, X couldn't help but ponder. _Wherever my powers came from, it seems to be triggered by my need to fight for those I believe in. I don't know if Zero's system has something similar…but it appears that my guardians do. _

He turned his head and gazed at the eager guardians analyzing their now fully-functional armaments.

_I guess I don't need my body to keep the world safe anymore after all. I'll leave it all in their hands…_

"It's best not to question it, Harpuia. I'm not sure if I ever fully understood it either. I'm sending you four over to Zero's location. Meet me at point #CD4X-2 in 3 minutes. The portal to Omega's location will be open by then."

Harpuia turned his head and noticed his masked brother leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. The wind general sensed his brother's regret at his fanaticism; had he not chosen to detonate that day he'd be able to physically fight alongside his siblings. Harpuia and Phantom silently acknowledged each other's concern for the other with an understanding gaze. Phantom gave a nod of approval as if to say "good luck", something none of the guardians had genuinely received up until their few missions with X and Phantom. Harpuia then noticed the inclusion of his brother in the mission. This was unusual as his brother no longer possessed a body to fight with. Whatever the case was, they had experienced far too much to stop believing in miracles.

As the emerald-clad guardian peered into the portal monitors showing Zero holding on for his life, he felt the overwhelming need to end this pointless conflict once and for all. Weil's main offensive had been taken care of and all that remained to exterminate was his champion.

Fefnir uncovered his beloved launchers Sodom and Gomorrah and quickly began to repeatedly dismantle and reassemble them. He took note of every last bit of detail that had been restored: of the lack of every single scratch and battle accumulated gashes its main components had taken from his encounter with Omega on the Forbidden Ark. With meticulous effort he observed the lack of molten deformities for both of his beloved weapons and, like a child who had found a missing toy, grinned like a satiated maniac. _Wait until Omega gets a taste of these…_

"What a combat nerd…", Leviathan sarcastically remarked.

Her task had been far less strenuous than his combat-obsessed brother. It only took a quick run of her fingers through the restored smoothness of her ice javelin for her to realize that its shape had been restored. This simple action was enough to convince her that she was fully ready for a fight. _Hee hee, just wait til we get there Zero. It'll be such a party. ~_

The three minutes had passed and the guardians were transported to Omega's location. At this point, the guardians had become far too attuned to the feel of cyberspace to know when they were still in it and when they were not. As expected, Fefnir was the first to speak up about the event.

"Master X, what is this? Why are we still in cyberspace?"

Choosing instead to observe what was around them, Harpuia, Leviathan and Phantom surveyed the area and came to the same conclusion.

It was certain that they still remained in the ethereal world of data.

"Where is he Master X?"

X pointed his right hand in the direction facing a direct north of where the guardians were standing. The triangular crystal that adorned his azure helmet glowed in the same shade as his subordinates and his ethereal cloak had restored his signature ultimate armor. An increasingly disturbing anomaly had revealed itself the very moment that Omega returned to the Earth and caused the cyberspace portals to open. Though it took days to locate its almost negligible and stealthy presence, X had found it. Not only that, but it was just as he had predicted.

"There lies a major source of Omega's power."

The guardians prepared their weapons in the same way that their master had uncovered his winged buster.

"You should have noticed these portals that have opened between your world and this. The change was for more than apparent and we know that Omega is the cause. As long as his body continues to absorb the Dark Elf's power, his very soul will seek to bind itself to this world. Once that happens, no matter how much damage is inflicted on his body in the physical world, he will continue to draw upon the energies found here and he'll be virtually invincible. We can't let this succeed, especially since it will only seek to further Weil's goals."

As if his tone could get any darker, X continued,

"Now that we've found his location, we can sever his connection with this world. After that, all we have to do is aid Zero in ridding Omega once and for all."

His voice was grimly serious, but his faith in everyone burned bright with the incandescence of a newborn star.

Knowing what their master was about to ask next, Harpuia, Fefnir, Leviathan and Phantom looked at each other and all shouted in unison,

"Let's go!"

Behind an encrypted construct wall 25 meters ahead was the quickly materializing data frame of Omega fused with the Dark Elf. Aside from X and Phantom, who were accustomed to seeing behind encryption codes, the other guardians were almost oblivious to what lay behind the walls of overarching data fragments. They did however sense the overwhelming presence behind the walls. It was unmistakable. Only Omega and the Dark Elf possessed that energy signature.

X and Phantom were quick to work with cracking the barrier that blocked their way. Phantom summoned a data console similar to the one he used to free Fefnir and Leviathan's shells while X scanned for the entry codes by touching the barrier and dictating them to his masked subordinate. At the same time he used his own power over the area to counter the Dark Elf's influence. Phantom swiftly entered the codes into the swirling fragments of loose data that encircled his frame continuously and began spiraling into the wall like a drill.

Sensing that something was attempting to break into the source code of the barrier, the surroundings changed its scenery into a far more hostile form. The simulation of the ruined laboratory where Zero and Omega still continually fought in changed into an extending iridescent scenery of dark green, with an all-encompassing series of red alert flashes. Soon pockets of data swirled together at fixed intervals, forming several hundred portals which unleashed a vast legion of fallen units marching out in complete unison. With their weapons drawn out, the guardians hacked and shot their way through the gathering hordes while X and Phantom hacked into the network.

Fefnir grunted as he sent wave after wave of pantheons violently exploding into pieces while he continued to shoot massive explosive rounds of magma energy into the sky.

"Knock it off! The sky belongs to me!"

Harpuia took care of the great amassing numbers of aerial troops while Fefnir and Leviathan hacked their way into the marching troops. With his favored sonic waves, chunks of decapitated units came rocketing down into the ground.

It seemed as if Leviathan was the only one at a disadvantage due to the lack of water, however she fiercely held her own even without her the assistance of a great body of water. Using her increased control over water, she was able to effectively freeze the weaker numbers by altering the temperatures of the surrounding water particles present in air. Cyberspace still operated under the same rules as the real world, and all three guardians were glad of this. As for the stronger mass of troops, she was forced to dash at each party and hack her way. The method was satisfying, but not exactly good for her defense. Small water droplets gathered in her face, giving the illusion of sweat. _Quite fitting, this fight's getting a bit too hot for my liking._

Endless waves of troops continued pouring in from all directions of the defending warriors, to the point where they were nearly overwhelmed. Some of the data portals would unleash an onslaught of crimson beams near the locations of the guardians, attempting to catch them. However, each of them was able to adapt to the situation and lure the beams into wiping out larger chunks of the endless troops in succession. Unfortunately for Fefnir, he found himself dog piled by close to 50 pantheons. Without any room for movement, the fire general only grew more impatient, subsequently unleashing his fury by tossing them all out of the way with his strength and melting them simultaneously with the magma energy that coated his body. The pantheons would continue their futile struggle to subdue the general, but would fail as Fefnir's power only grew with the heat of his temper.

"You mongrels DARE to touch me again and you'll all regret it!"

Harpuia gracefully dodged most of the missiles coming his way despite the difficulty of having too little air to maneuver in. He remembered a training routine he had designed while training his squadron, and was able to lure his prey into a formation that made them all but prepared for the flurry of quick controlled slashes from the sonic blades and the devastating shockwaves that would follow said slashes.

This was no training exercise by any means, but it at least put up a great challenge. His siblings were in dire need of assistance and the enemy stronghold was starting to gain ground. In order to even out the odds, Harpuia sent out a salvo of electrically charged missiles at the ground, thereby giving Fefnir enough room to blast his way clean of the competition. As he continued to send out wave after wave of missiles, Harpuia slashed his way and deflected several bullets back into their marksman's directions.

Fortunately being outnumbered at such a scale meant that accuracy was not as much a concern when wiping out targets. The whirlwinds Harpuia had summoned as a distraction had now become powerful enough to suck in targets further than 30 feet. The only downside to this was that it seemed to slightly hinder his siblings as well; battlefield adaptation was no problem for the seasoned warriors in any case. Seeing as the eye of the hurricanes was clear from any of their opposition, Fefnir and Leviathan were quick to adapt a solution. Leviathan would freeze the targets over so they lose their traction and get sucked in while Fefnir would blast them straight through the hurricanes. Soon as enough of them were sucked into the vortexes, Harpuia, Fefnir and Leviathan used their powers in unison to unleash gigantic swirling vortexes of fire and ice. Some were either melted or frozen on contact but others were durable enough to make it inside where the guardians would be waiting to give a finishing blow. The only weak spots available would be up above, which Harpuia was keen on protecting at all costs.

All were tempted to go into their alternate forms due to the merciless numbers that were summoned from the portals. The practice would ensure a faster way of eliminating targets of such a gigantic number however it would come at the cost of an inconveniently quick drain towards energy reserves—something no one could afford especially with an impending match with Omega.

X and Phantom had finished their task. This was signified with the immediate ceasing of incoming troops and the restoration of the surroundings into the contained ruins that resembled Zero and Omega's battleground. A momentary distraction froze the enemy units in place, allowing the guardians to effectively dispatch the last batch of troops in due time with their master's and masked brother's combat assistance. The defense protocol of the barrier had been overcome and now it was time to move towards the arena. X outreached his left hand and with a quick arm thrust, sent what remained of the barrier shattering like shards of broken glass.

The Dark Elf's influence had only grown in the time spent trying to break into the barrier. Despite the breaking of the seal protecting the Elf's location, Omega's prolonged absorption of her served to bind his being into the very fabric of both worlds at once. Even if his main body was to be destroyed, some fragment of him will always continue to exist within this realm.

Omega's incomplete frame towered floating above X and the guardians, eying them with a menacingly condescending look. His body was encased in wings of data that visibly resembled those possessed by the Elf's albeit being in a green wire frame. A blood red aura covered him, with its emanating presence accentuating his piercing crimson eyes. With his sword drawn, the wings Omega's cyberspace counterpart inherited from the Dark Elf were reabsorbed into his body. Gritting white teeth showed from his blood lusted eagerness, emphasizing his demon-like aura. Each of the warriors facing him clenched their fists hard into their respected weapons. They knew that they had to knock him down fast. Zero wasn't going to last for much longer than 57 minutes.


End file.
